


Dead Rising: A Dead Getaway

by The_Head_In_Charge



Series: My Dead Rising stories [3]
Category: Dead Rising
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Assassins & Hitmen, Beach Holidays, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Canon - Video Game, Canon-Typical Violence, Dead Rising Psychopaths, Dead Rising Survivors, Explicit Language, F/M, Florida, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gen, Gun Violence, Minor Original Character(s), Mystery, Nightmare Fuel, Nightmares, Past Relationship(s), Psychological Horror, Romantic Fluff, Strong Female Characters, Survival, Survival Horror, Torture, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 08:40:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 193,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20328265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Head_In_Charge/pseuds/The_Head_In_Charge
Summary: A spin-off of Dead Rising 2 and Fortune City Survivor Stores.Andy Talbat and his girlfriend Tammy Blaine go on vacation to Palm Tree City, Florida. However, a zombie outbreak occurs along the way. Andy, Tammy, and Ana, an old friend of Andy's, all team up to find the truth, as well as survive the apocalypse. Are things what they seem?Rated E for strong grisly violence and language.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I took more than a year to finish. It was definitely one of my most ambitious stories ever. I kept on going and going. I also wouldn't have done this story had the person who pitched the idea of pairing up Andy and Tammy for my DR2 anthology not do it. I owe a lot to him.
> 
> Also, this story will be told in the style of the games, so it's action/horror with some romance thrown in. Enjoy!

_After Fortune's End, Andy Talbat and Tammy Blaine started dating and fell in love not too long after. Throughout the time they had spent together inside the Fortune City Emergency Shelter, they became connected as time had gone on. Both people felt something for each other, despite knowing each other for a short amount of time before they fled to safety, along with many other survivors. Once they went to an airport away from the Fortune City resort, they still remained by each other's sides._

_Tammy went on the dates that Andy promised her that he would take her on. The pair could not have been more inseparable after the outbreak. Neither of them realized that they would develop feelings for each other in such a short amount of time. Even Tammy's friends never saw her any happier than she was with Andy. Andy's friends even saw the same, as he had dealt with some hard stuff before meeting her._

_However, being that Andy had gone through trauma and depression while being in the outbreak, as well as contemplated suicide, she had promised that Andy would get the help he needed. Being the daughter of a psychiatrist, Tammy had her father help Andy with his problems. Though she had dated some guys before him, she had never felt anything like what she felt for Andy. Andy, on the other hand, had dated one girl before but had not had much luck with women before Tammy. Both people felt it was fate when they met at the Atlantica Casino during the outbreak, and Andy had carried Tammy back to the safe house. It was like enchantment under the sea for those two._

_Their love was so deep and genuine that nothing could keep those two apart, and even until DEATH do them part…_

* * *

**TWO YEARS AFTER FORTUNE'S END, SEPTEMBER 2013.**

A very special day had come for the happy couple. Andy, dressed in a tuxedo, stood at the altar at an outdoor wedding ceremony while hearing a band playing "Here Comes the Bride." He looked down the aisle, and saw a bride walk down wearing a beautiful wedding gown. Two of the bridesmaids looked in awe at how beautiful the bride looked, while the maid of honor stood there and started crying, unbeknownst to her that she had a bee sting on her neck. The best man and the rest of the groomsmen looked at Andy and told him how lucky he was. One of the groomsmen noticed a bee sting on his neck, though.

The bride then approached Andy, who then unveiled her and it was none other than Tammy. Andy's face turned red and a smile emerged on his face, while Tammy smiled, when a tear of joy started running down her eye. Dr. Blaine, Tammy's father, tried to hold back the tears after walking his daughter down the aisle. Andy's mother sat in the audience and cried, too. The same will be said about Tammy's mother.

The minister called everyone's attention. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of these witnesses, to join Andrew Richard Talbat and Tamara Amanda Blaine in holy matrimony."

As the minister continued to perform the ceremony, the maid of honor started coughing a bit and scratching her neck. The same thing happened with one of the groomsmen. Andy noticed this happening with the groomsman, as well as Tammy noticing the same thing happening with the maid of honor. Both people turned around and threw up blood. Andy and Tammy looked at both people, whose backs were turned to them, and once they turned around, their faces looked more decayed than before and made hissing sounds, and their eyes glowed a bit.

"Oh, no," Andy yelled.

A few people in the audience started turning into zombies as well, and went right after other members of the audience. Meanwhile, the infected groomsman went right after the Best Man and grabbed him and bit him on the neck. The Maid of Honor went right for the minister, much to the shock and horror of the other bridesmaids. She had grabbed him and pushed him to the ground and remained on top of him and started biting at his neck and chest area. The zombified Maid of Honor put her head up with some of the minister's flesh and tissue hanging from her mouth with blood dripping from it, and then looked over at the other bridesmaids, all of whom screamed in horror and fear when the attention was brought towards them. The Best Man had now turned into a zombie, and he, along with the zombified groomsman, went after the other two groomsmen. Andy and Tammy could not do anything but just watch all of the carnage going on, if only something was not about to turn for the worse.

"Andy, what's happening?" Tammy asked.

Andy immediately turned around after having heard his lady say something, only to jump in shock at what he just saw. He saw that Tammy started twitching and hissing, and throwing up blood and her skin started to decay. A big dark red stain was on her wedding dress, as a lot of the blood she had vomited went all over it. She was not the beautiful bride that she was moments ago.

"Oh, god, no, Tammy, this isn't happening!" Andy said, as he did not want to believe that the woman he loved had turned into a zombie on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

Though Tammy had turned into a zombie, for the last remaining bit of the turning process, she maintained her human consciousness. In that moment, she started to approach Andy and was ready to grab him.

"Come on, Andy, kiss the bride," said the zombified Tammy, as she pushed him to ground to bite him as he screamed his lungs out. There was nothing he could do as he was on the ground with the zombie version of his girlfriend right on top of him. The bride was no longer the woman he loved, but a zombified version of her, who then closed in on Andy's neck with her mouth open ready to bite him. No amount of fear in his scream was able to get Tammy off of him.

Just then, Andy woke up and gasped, and sat up after having woken up from the nightmare he had. Andy's reaction had woken up Tammy, who was asleep right next to him. Half-asleep, she turned her attention towards Andy.

"Andy, what's wrong?" Tammy asked. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Andy nodded his head and felt his girlfriend's face to make sure she was normal.

"Andy, did you have a dream about zombies again?" Tammy asked. "Remember, we haven't been in contact with any zombies in almost two years. Do you need to see my dad again about this? I thought you were past this."

"No, I think I'll be okay," Andy said. He got up out of his side of the bed. "I need to go check on something. I'll be fine."

Two years into their relationship, Tammy wondered why Andy had suddenly gotten these thoughts into his head. Ever since the Fortune City outbreak, she ensured that her own father would try to help out her boyfriend with his issues. It would be a stretch to say that Andy had been cured of his emotions, but he had not thought about zombies and such until sometime recently. Neither of the two really knew what triggered these emotions that he suddenly started getting. She cared about him so much that she was scared that he would regress to his suicidal emotions that he had felt two years prior.

It was midnight and Andy went to the refrigerator to grab himself a bottle of beer. He needed some alcohol to help ease the stress, and also to help him go back to sleep.

Andy sat on the couch while he thought about the dream he had, while Tammy got up to check on Andy.

"Andy, come back to bed, you'll get over this," Tammy said. "Besides, everything will be better when we go on our trip soon."

Tammy had noted about a trip that she and Andy were about to go on. They planned on leaving on September 26th to go away for that weekend.

"Right, I'll be right there," Andy said. "I need to check on one thing."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you," Tammy said.

Andy had to make sure she was back in the bedroom, and headed right into the kitchen again and opened up a book he had been reading called "The Willamette Incident" by Frank West, to reveal that he hid a piece of jewelry inside an envelope that he used a book marker. Not just any piece of jewelry, though, but an engagement ring. He wanted to use the vacation that they were about to go on as a great opportunity to pop the question to the woman he loved. He looked at the ring for a little bit and then put the ring back in the envelope and closed the book, and placed it right next to another book entitled "Fortune's End" by Stacey Forsythe, and went right back to bed.

Andy crawled into bed and put his arms around Tammy, who was still awake, and kissed her on the lips.

"Andy, is everything okay with you?" Tammy said. "Are you just excited about our vacation that we are going on?"

"I'll be fine, baby," Andy said. "I think I am more nervous than anything. I'll be okay. Don't worry. I love you, and I want our vacation to be special."

"I love you, too," Tammy said.

Tammy went right back to sleep, while Andy lied there. He started to feel sleepy again, but was also deep in thought about the dream he had.

_Why am I suddenly having these thoughts in my head? It's been two years. I have not had to worry about zombies since that outbreak two years ago, and I've been going through counseling. There is only one thing that I think is triggering this. I met my beautiful girlfriend in a zombie outbreak, of all things. I immediately felt something for her the moment I laid my eyes on her. Our two-year anniversary is coming up. Could that be the reason? That the anniversary of the Fortune City Outbreak is coming up and the thoughts are coming back to me? I had a dream about zombies sometime recently. Maybe that is the case. I will try to get over this. It didn't happen to me last year during our one-year anniversary. It will go away. I am also nervous about proposing to her. She is the only girl who I've ever loved. She even told me that she had never felt this way about any other guy who she dated before me. Things will be fine. I know she will say yes, I just know it._

Tammy lied there, but was not fully asleep just yet. She turned around and looked over at Andy, who went back to sleep right after he got into bed. Suddenly, the same concern she had felt when she first met and got acquainted with him came back to her.

_It's been two years since we have gotten together. I really don't know how we clicked right then and there, especially in a zombie outbreak, no less. It was hard telling people, whether it was my family or my friends, how we met. However, being that a zombie outbreak had occurred in 2006 in the town of Willamette, Colorado, nothing like that will surprise anybody anymore. We are on the verge of celebrating our 2 years since we have met and gotten together. I am from a well-off family, so this vacation was covered by my family, as well as Andy had saved up some money for this trip. He also told me he had something special planned for the trip. I wonder what it is. Could it be what I think it could mean? If so, this will be a great trip for both of us, but I can't confirm anything. I don't know what it is, so I won't just outright tell him what it is. What if I am wrong?_

_I really wonder why he is getting these dreams all of a sudden. Ever since we started dating, I promised that I would get him the help that he needed. I know he hasn't fully gotten over it, but he put those emotions aside. My dad was a big help to him. He even told me that he liked Andy, something that he didn't always say about other guys who I had dated, except maybe one, but that is a topic for another day. My mom even liked him, too. Also, after a while, he started talking to his mom again and they have had a better relationship than before. She even liked me, too. This whole thing has been puzzling to me. I'm sure that when we go on our trip, those dreams will all be over._

Just then, she went back to sleep, but not without her wrapping her arm around Andy.


	2. The Arrival

**TWO WEEKS LATER, 9/26/2013.**

The day had finally come, as Andy and Tammy were on their way to Palm Tree City, a city in the southern region of Florida, facing the Gulf of Mexico. The two had been planning this vacation for a while. In some ways it seemed odd for them to go in the middle of September, when one would have thought it would have been more appropriate to go either during Spring Break or during the summer. But the date had been special as it was the day the two first met, especially when they started going out not long after they had been rescued from Fortune City.

The couple had spent nearly five hours on a plane flying directly from Nevada, where they live. They lived 50 miles outside of Fortune City, or at least what was left of it. Nobody knew whether it was only the resort in Fortune that got bombed, or if it was the entire city as it had become deserted after the events that had occurred two years prior. Throughout the time on the plane, Andy had read the book on Fortune's End, which he had started reading after he had finished with the book on The Willamette Incident. It seemed that the nightmares that he had recently had given him some interest on zombie outbreaks, despite one of the books being about one he actually lived through. His interest had developed enough that he also started looking at the Tape It or Die blog.

Tammy, on the other hand, may have raised some concern for him, but she, too, had also started developing an interest to some extent, enough that she had decided to read The Willamette Incident herself. Not because Andy had asked her to, far from the case, but because she figured that she should not try to downplay her boyfriend's emotions. Of course, not that she was in the first place, but when she recalled that she had found herself in that kind of situation as well, she realized that anything could happen anywhere. But this vacation was for the couple to get away for a bit and celebrate their two years together, or at least since they had met.

Once the plane had landed, the couple had gotten their luggage and went to go rent a car for their stay in Palm Tree City. Not long after that, they checked into the Hotel Caribbean, which was where they made their reservations ahead of time.

"Isn't it beautiful out here, baby?" Tammy said.

"Yeah, I'll say it is," Andy replied.

Tammy approached the counter at the front desk to check into their hotel room, only to see that there was a line of people there, while Andy sat in the lobby and noticed a news talk show on the TV.

_Hello, welcome back, and I would like to introduce you to our next guests, one is author of "Fortune's End," Stacey Forsythe-Greene, and Frank West, author of "The Willamette Incident."_

"Huh?" Andy turned his attention right to the TV when he heard the names of the authors, though one name should sound more familiar as he was in the presence of one of them in the past. The host of the show started asking Stacey and Frank about their experiences, as the time was already at two years since Fortune's End, and seven years since The Willamette Incident.

_"Well, a lot of the experiences came from my husband, who had experienced some terrible stuff in the outbreak, but he came to save a lot of people. But that is not to say that I didn't experience anything during that time. It was a terrible tragedy that Fortune City had gone through and I could not have been luckier to get out of there alive."_

Frank also gave his input on the matter during the interview.

_"It was no picnic during my time at the Willamette Mall, and it sure as hell was no picnic dealing with some people at Phenotrans during the time of when Fortune City was going through all that hell. But I can very well say that sometimes you just have to use what is around you to fight off zombies, and sometimes you just need to make drinks out of whatever when you are in that kind of situation. But make no mistake about it, sometimes even in an outbreak, not only will you come across some people who are unlucky to be out there, but you'll also find some people who just went off the deep end for who knows what reason."_

Stacey then added some more input on the matter.

_"I have read Mr. West's book before, and what scares me about all of this is the part about orphans all throughout the country whom would be used to cause more outbreaks. While there have not been many outbreaks in recent memory, at least not since Fortune City, it's only a matter until another one were to happen, and who knows where? It was scary enough to think that the Vegas outbreak happened and spread even into small towns like Still Creek in Nevada. But at the same time, I still believe we should not take these outbreaks for granted, because zombies were people before."_

Andy stood still and stared blankly at the TV in the lobby, when suddenly Tammy called his attention. Andy then broke away from the trance that he had endured while watching the interview on TV, and then looked over and saw Tammy giving him hand signals to get over there, as she was next in line. The show had gone to a commercial break at that point anyway. Andy walked over to his girlfriend as she stood right in front of the receptionist of the hotel.

"Oh, sorry, I was just killing time and then I got caught up in the interview on this news show," Andy said, and then looked over at the receptionist, only to gain a look of mild shock on his face, as if the receptionist looked familiar to him. The receptionist then took a closer look at Andy's face, and the only that came out of the mouth was "Andy? Andy Talbat, is that you?"

Tammy then looked over at Andy and the receptionist confusedly, as the receptionist turned out to be a rather attractive woman who appeared around their age, with black hair tied in a bun, and her skin color was a darker tan complexion, and brown hazel eyes that can catch a person's attention from a mile away. She then looked at the name tag, which said "Ana Torres," and under her name it said "Carson City, Nevada." The name suddenly rang a bell as Andy had told her about someone with that name before.

"Hi, Ana," Andy replied nervously, but was able to contain himself. "What are you doing here?"

"I live out here," Ana said. "Remember I got accepted to the University of Miami before we graduated high school? I ended up staying here in Florida after I got done with school."

"Right, I just have not talked to you in a long time," Andy said, who then looked at Tammy. "By the way, this is my girlfriend Tammy."

Tammy then smiled and out her right hand out. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I think Andy has told me about you before."

"Oh really, has he?" Ana sarcastically replied as she looked over at Andy, who looked away in that moment.

"Look, can we just get our room, please?" Andy said, as he was a little embarrassed to not only run into what appeared to be his ex-girlfriend, but his current girlfriend happened to be present in all of this at that moment. Ana handed Andy the keycards to the hotel room where he and Tammy were staying in. Andy then carried his suitcase, while Tammy carried hers by pulling and wheeling it. Ana watched as the couple walked away with their luggage, until some other guests approached the front desk.

The couple had gone up the elevator and down the hallway to get to their hotel room. Once they got inside their hotel room, they had put their stuff down, and Andy dropped right onto the bed and turned on the TV to find the channel that was showing that news talk show he was watching before.

"Andy, what are you doing?" Tammy said.

"Look, baby, we were on a flight for hours," Andy said. "I just want to relax for a bit."

Tammy felt the same way at that point as well, as she dropped herself right on the bed next to Andy. "Well, maybe we can go to the pool in a little bit. I was thinking that maybe we can take a dip and then get ourselves some sun." Right then she smiled and winked at him, and then leaned over to wrap her arms around him.

"That sounds like a good idea, even though I think we should go to the beach if we were to get some sun," Andy said as he leaned over to kiss her on the lips.

The main thing that was on Andy's mind at that moment was the surprise encounter with his ex-girlfriend, whom Andy had not had contact with for quite some time. She was Andy's last girlfriend, not to mention his last real girlfriend up until Tammy had arrived. If Tammy was going to mention Ana at all anytime soon, Andy was prepared to talk about it, even though he believed he was over her. Another thing that was on his mind was the interview he watched on TV, as some of what was said instilled a level of unease in his system. Not that he believed that this vacation would result in a zombie outbreak, but in this case, you never know what could happen. Of course, the encounter with his ex outweighed the fear of a potential outbreak at that point.

"Okay, I'm going to get this off my chest, you're probably wondering about Ana, right?" Andy said.

Tammy raised her body up and looked at her boyfriend directly in the eye after having heard him say that.

"Why do you say that?" Tammy said apprehensively. "I thought that she was all part of the past. I have told you about some other guys who I have dated, and they didn't mean much to me as you do."

"Never mind, but I did see how she looked at me," Andy said. "Like maybe some old feelings had gone back in a matter of seconds. I totally forgot that she was out here, and I really didn't think I was going to see her."

"Look, you should not worry, you are with me, and we have been together for almost two years, even though it feels longer than that," Tammy said. "When we first met, we clicked so well that it made me forget about the meaningless guys who just wanted to have sex with me, and it sure as hell made me forget about the one who I wanted to forget completely."

Andy looked over at Tammy after hearing her say that and replied to what she said. "Are you talking about Simon? You told me that guy was trouble."

Tammy had a look of disgust on her face just having heard his name. "You don't know the half of it. He abused me, he cheated on me, and did some stupid shit that cost him his wrestling scholarship, which then caused his father to cut him off and then was enlisted in the Navy. But the less said about him, the better."

Even though it had been quite some time since she had seen what seemed to be the only other real boyfriend she had, just thinking of Simon Gates brought a chill down Tammy's spine. It also did not help that her history with the guy may have gone back a bit further, as her father was good friends with Simon's father.

While they continued to talk, the program on the TV continued to talk about the zombie outbreaks that had occurred, and that it drove the sales of Zombrex to skyrocket as time had gone on, same with how the agency of Zombie Defense and Control had formed not too long after Fortune's End.

"So what do you want to do today?" Andy said as he lied on the bed with his arms wrapped around Tammy.

"Come on, we're in Sunny Florida, we have a lot to do, but let's go out to the pool, and then maybe we can go to a club tonight," Tammy said. "We're going to be here for a few days, we have a lot to do out here."

"Why should we go out to the pool when we can go out to the beach?" Andy said.

"Don't worry, baby, we'll get there," Tammy said. "I'll go change right now."

* * *

**MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF PALM TREE CITY, FLORIDA.**

Two trucks were seen passing through the freeway, as they had crossed through various parts of South Florida. However, in front of them was a smaller truck leading them to their destination. Judging from how these vehicles were driving in formation, one would wonder if they had a plan under their belt. Nonetheless, they all knew they were going. But the real question was what were they up to?

It appeared that the trucks had come from Jupiter, which was only an hour and a half from Palm Tree City. It would be speculated that the trucks are traveling to a research facility or setting up some type of operation in the middle of nowhere.

It was not long until the trucks had made their arrival, which was to a research camp near a swampy area that was adjacent to Palm Tree City.

From a distance, a man who lived in a cabin that was right by the swamp saw the trucks arrive and the people who drove the trucks exited their vehicles and approached some other people who had been expecting them. The man just happened to have been getting out of his cabin to have a smoke, but before he could light his cigarette, he started getting suspicious of some of the activity that may have been going at said lab. Though he may have already been aware of the lab's existence near the swamp, but the fact that it had more people arriving out of the blue, something just didn't seem right during that moment.


	3. The Calm Before The Storm

Not long after Andy and Tammy had gotten to their hotel room, the couple had decided to catch a few rays and dip into the pool at the resort. This was only the beginning of their anniversary vacation in the middle of the humid, warm climate of South Florida. Despite it not being in what may be considered the time for people to go to a resort, like Spring Break or even the summertime, there was still a good amount of people at the resort. It probably would have been crazier had the two gone to Palm Tree City during those times, but then again, it probably would have been the same thing if they had gone to Miami, West Palm Beach, St Petersburg, or any other area in the state of Florida that may be a destination for a bit. One can even say a certain theme park in Orlando would have been crazy in spite of the time of year it would be in.

Then again, it was possible that it could have been the same thing if they had gone out to Southern California, whether they would be in Venice or Santa Monica, though both are close together. The same could be said if they had gone to Hawaii.

Nonetheless, Andy and Tammy had gone out to the pool area. The two had on some shades considering how sunny it was that day. Andy came out wearing some red and white beach shorts while he also had on a light blue button-down shirt that had only the bottom half buttoned up, while the top half was unbuttoned exposing some of his bare chest. Meanwhile, Tammy had on a white cover-up dress. Being that it was white and see-through; parts of her swimsuit were seen through it on her top area and her bottom area.

Andy wasted no time once he sat on the chair and unbuttoned the rest of his shirt and took it off, while Tammy remained standing and crossed her arms right at the bottom of her cover-up and pulled it up to take it off, revealing an orange and blue string bikini, not to mention her red hair shined with the sunlight shining right upon it. While a lot of people around them in the pool area were in a state of undress, when Tammy took off her cover-up, it didn't surprise Andy that it drew some attention from other guys in the vicinity. There was no denying that some guys liked the sight of Tammy's curvaceous figure. Regardless of his lack of surprise in the matter, Andy, whose sunglasses started sliding down his nose a notch to reveal his eyes a bit, leaned his towards his right and looked over at some of the guys who were checking out his lady, whom then turned their attentions away rather quickly, as if it wasn't obvious that they were looking at her.

Tammy then turned her back towards Andy, and then asked him something. "Hey, baby, can you put some lotion on my back?"

Andy gladly obliged to the task, while peeking over at the same group of guys from before to make sure that they were not staring at his girl. But instead of mean-mugging at those guys, he smirked a bit, albeit rather smugly. Could someone blame them for looking at a girl like her, even though there were some other women around who were showing as much skin as she was?

_You guys are just jealous because she is all mine._

However, it was not just the attentions of those guys that Tammy had drawn, as from a distance, Ana, who was on a break at that point, was looking on at Tammy and Andy, as if maybe some old feelings may have rekindled. She stood right by the doorway to the pool area. It had been quite some time, approximately four or five years since she had seen Andy, let alone talked to him. It would almost seem that they did not part on the best of terms, but somehow the feelings may have come back, and no one knew if it would have led to any turmoil between her and Tammy.

Maybe the reason Ana's feelings had started coming back were because they were each other's first loves, despite what Andy may have thought before. Some people may believe that high school relationship were not as meaningful as anything beyond that, and Ana had dated since she broke up with Andy, but somehow there were some things that you just could not get over, and with her having reunited with her first love, she had thought that she was over him, but she was wrong.

_Man, how could I compete with that?_ She thought as she looked at Tammy. _Wait, did I just wonder if I could compete with Andy's current girlfriend? Ana, snap out of it! He is from your past._

Meanwhile, Tammy lied in a chair at poolside and then turned her head towards her right where Andy was lying.

"So I was wondering, maybe we could go walk around the beach area in a little bit, what do you think?" Tammy said.

Andy looked up at the sky with the sun glaring on the lenses of his shades, as he paused trying to figure out what they could do later, and then turned his head towards his left. "Well, I guess we could walk around the beach, but I had thought of us going to the beach to relax like what we are doing now."

"Come on, Andy, this is good for right now," Tammy replied. "Besides, I didn't want for us to have to drag a lot of stuff to set up over there. We will get there at some point, but I really would like to check out the sights for now."

"I get where you're coming from," Andy said. "Besides, we could also check out a movie or something later. I think I saw as we were on our way here that a theater was doing a double-feature of two sci-fi classics, one was 'Captain Commando,' and the other was 'Forgotten Worlds.' It seemed that there was some sort of special event as there was another double-feature showing the war classics, 'U.N. Squadron' and 'Mercs.'"

Tammy looked at Andy with her bottom lip lowering a tad revealing her teeth a bit. "Eh, I don't know about that, I mean can't we do that at home? I mean I love movies as much as the next person, but…"

"Oh, come on, really, we are going to get some dinner later, and we do that a lot at home," Andy replied. "Besides, there is nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen."

Tammy sighed at the suggestion. "We'll see, or maybe we can go to a club tonight. I heard that the nightlife out in these parts is wild."

"We'll play it by ear," Andy replied.

* * *

**EVERGLADES, 3:37 PM**

The man who lived in a cabin right by the swamp took out his binoculars to see what was going on at that lab that happened to be located right by the swamp. It was not really a lab per se, but some people had set up a camp with a bunch of tents set up around with some of the research supplies inside them for the people to do their work. The man figured that the binoculars were not going to be enough to get any sort of proof about anything going on, so he went back inside his cabin to get his camera out with a long lens on it to get more evidence as to what may have been going on.

One thing that caught the man's attention was a jar full of what looked like wasps, as well as a container that held some kind of larvae in it.

What the hell is this shit? He thought. Being that he lived in solitude in the outskirts of Palm Tree City, which was practically in the Everglades, he had no real clue about the kind of insect that was being harvested.

I think I have heard about something like this before, but what, and where, and when?!

On the other side of the swamp, a couple of men in lab coats were talking with what looked like operatives on some sort of agency, as well as men in suits.

"So what is the plan here?" said one of the agents.

"We are trying to harvest some queen bees out here," said one of the scientists. "Florida's humidity could help the hormones in the queens that it could make some zombies more powerful, and you know that if someone gets stung, could cause some people to turn a lot faster depending on the person's physiology. Of course, depending on what could happen, it will drive up the sales in Zombrex." The scientist even looked at the men in suits. "Don't worry, all of you guys will get a cut in this. We have a business deal."

The man was unable to hear anything that was being said, but nothing that was seen could mean anything on their part. He had to find a way to inform people about what he believed was going to happen, but he had no evidence as to what their plan was. He could be wrong for all he knew, despite having some photo and video evidence.

He was, however, not far from civilization at all, as the swamp area he was in was adjacent to Palm Tree City.

* * *

**PALM TREE CITY, 4:10 PM**

The couple had spent about a little more than an hour in the pool area. They had sunbathed and then swam in the pool for a bit, but then it came time to go check out the sights that were in the beach area. Because they didn't want to go back to the hotel room to change just yet, Andy just put on that button-down shirt that he wore before, while Tammy actually had some extra clothes with her, as she put on a pair of denim shorts and a white crop tank-top. They had walked out of the pool area and through the hotel lobby, while Ana looked on at the two making their exit.

They had walked around and Tammy noticed something that drew her attention.

She said, "Hey, Andy, look at this." Andy turned his attention where Tammy was facing and right before their very eyes was a fortune-telling stand. Andy looked at his girl with skepticism, as he was not sure if there was any legitimacy in anything like this. Then again, anything can happen as he was caught in a zombie outbreak two years prior, so he questioned his doubt

"Oh, come on, I just want to see how this works," Tammy said. "I am not sure if I believe in this stuff either, but who knows? There might be something to happen between us, and the teller might tell us what that will be."

Having just heard what she said, the thought just hit him as to wonder she might be getting at.

Oh no, you don't think the psychic will predict what I think the prediction will be.

Andy had initially planned on using this vacation to propose to Tammy, but if the tarot reader was going to mention anything about it, then it would ruin the big surprise.

"You know, let's not do this," Andy said.

"Just come on," Tammy said as she walked towards the shop where the fortune teller was. She walked right into the shop. "Hello, is anyone like there?"

Right when she said that, a voice what sounded like it came from a woman with a strong Caribbean accent. "Hello, you two come in." Andy and Tammy looked at each other with confusion, as there was nothing that implied that there was more than one person who had come on. The two had slowly made their way to the room where the teller was.

"Ah, come in," said the fortune teller, who appeared to be in her 40s-to-50s and wore a gypsy hat and a long dress, and looked to be of African descent. "My name is Madame Poulet, I am a fortune teller."

Shocked at what was going on, Andy slowly responded. "Hi…my name is Andy and…this is my girlfriend…Tammy."

"Ah yes, a young couple happily in love," said Madame Poulet. "I see some good things coming in your future."

Tammy's eyes widened at she just heard, with a smile cracking a bit. "What do you see?"

Madame Poulet pulled out a card and looked right at it, which said "Marriage," with Andy looking right at her with a look on his face that said, "Don't say it." However, being that Madame had already figured out some stuff beforehand, Andy had hoped that she would figure that he wanted to surprise Tammy with the proposal, but then again, who is to say that anything would be factual? Nonetheless, she decided to show Tammy the card.

"What, marriage?" Tammy said in amazement bordering on shock, and then looked at Andy and smiled.

_Hmmmm, I do see ourselves marrying in the future, maybe starting a family, too._ She had thought to herself, though nothing in her mind even stated that Andy had planned to propose to her, nor did she see that as a way of him asking her to get married.

"But wait," Madame Poulet noticed her crystal ball started to glow a bit, and then pulled out another card, which said "Death" on it. She looked at it and said, "No, something about this isn't right."

"What, what is it?" Tammy leaned towards Madame.

"I cannot say," Madame responded to Tammy's question. "But I will tell you right now that a lot of danger is coming very soon and that you all should be very alert about it." She then turned the card towards the couple, which then caused Tammy to put her right hand to her mouth with a look of concern and shock emerging from her face.

"Holy shit," Andy said in deep shock. "You are not saying we will die soon, especially after the other card you just showed us?"

Madame tried to clear it up as best as she could. "I don't think it means what you think it would mean, as long as you try to survive. You can try to fight through the danger as best as you could. The fortune may be told, but that does not mean that you cannot escape what may happen."

Andy tried to be optimistic in the matter in that she meant that the danger could mean anything, not just what he feared may have been the case.

_Okay, Andy, just take a deep breath, everything will be alright._ He thought to himself. _Me and my love will have a great time and avoid any sort of danger that comes our way._

Tammy, on the other hand, was speechless in the matter, as she didn't know what to think. The only thing that she did in that moment was pay for her time, as she reached for her purse, but Andy stopped her, as he offered to pay for her time.

"Here and there is also a little extra, in case you might already know," Andy said.

Madame gladly took the money, but not without giving the couple some advice before they left.

"Just remember what I said, and this usually isn't my job, but if you encounter any danger, just face your fears and fight through them," she noted. "If you have anymore questions, feel free to come again, and the next time will be on me. Don't worry."

The pair exited the fortune teller shop with their minds blown as to what had been said.

"Do you believe any of the stuff that we just went through?" Tammy asked. "I had always wondered if tarot reading and fortune telling were real, and I think this had proved that it may be a fact."

Andy did not know what to respond with in that moment, as the danger that would come towards them was something that he did not want to believe what would happen. If anything did, however, he was not about to accept death right there and just let himself die, not by a long shot.

"You never know what may happen, but right now, let's go walk around and check out some of the sights around here," Andy said as he tried to brush off what he had just been told, though he was going to keep some of the information he had been given in mind.

* * *

**BACK IN THE EVERGLADES, 4:51 PM**

The mysterious man who lived by the swamp had decided to go into town, because he felt that there was something he needed to do. Being that he was in the outskirts, he needed to be somewhere to avoid suspicion, and also to get better reception for a phone call that he needed to make, and there was a need for it alright.

He approached his pickup truck and put his dog in there with him, and had to get out of there soon. He was the only other person besides the people in the lab camp that was across the swamp. He could have tried to get in closer while armed to get more information, but there was a great chance that he would have made it out of there alive had he tried, as he noticed that the place was guarded with armed mercenaries. He had traveled at least five miles outside of the outskirts and noticed that his phone started to have more reception than before. He pulled over to the side that was close to the beach area. He wasted no time in making a call to any authority figures and/or news stations to get word about something.

The phone rang and as soon as he heard a voice, he started talking. "Hello, my name is Paul Williams, I have some information that I want to share with you. I shot some photos that seem suspicious." From what it seemed, he had been asked where he was. "I live in Palm Tree City, Florida, in the outskirts, actually, and I shot some photos of what seemed like some type of breed of wasps and larvae that may be connected with a zombie virus. Yes, I will hold."

However, back at the camp, the people who were there discussed some stuff.

"So, when do you want us to start the infestation?" one of the guys said.

"It's too early to do it now, I think we should wait at least a few hours before we make our move," another guy said. "I think the bees need a little more time, but we will be ready soon."

It seemed that Paul's intuition was correct, as the people in the research camp facility across the swamp were up to no good, and it was only a matter of time until something terrible was about to happen in Palm Tree City.


	4. The Eruption of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy and Tammy want to go out to have fun, but something odd happens along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will finally get the story going. Enjoy!

**PALM TREE CITY, 7:56 PM, SEPTEMBER 26th.**

Night was falling with Andy and Tammy getting ready to check out the nightlife at a club that was close to the beach. It was a club that mixed indoors and outdoors, with people dancing and getting their drinks on whether they were inside or outside. When they had gone back to their hotel room after walking around the boardwalk and the pier, they had a little alone time before they were about to get ready to go out some more. The couple did not want to wait until later to have more alone time, even though they already have quite an active sex life in their relationship.

Being that the two had gone to a fortune teller in the afternoon that same day, Andy had wondered what Madame Poulet meant by any bad things that were about to happen. It made him wonder about the talk show that he watched earlier that day when he and Tammy had arrived in the hotel lobby.

_Please, god, I hope that none of that shit will happen._ He thought when they left the fortune teller hours earlier. _It won't, I got to think positively._

When they had walked around the beach to check out the sights, it was enough to get his mind off what he had been told. Not to mention that Tammy smiled at him after the fortune teller had pulled a card that said marriage for the two in the future. Of course, while they were walking, Tammy did not mention a single thing about marriage, nor did she ask Andy if he knew anything about it, about which he was relieved. He still wanted to surprise her with the proposal, as he still had the ring somewhere in his suitcase.

Regarding the plan of Andy wanting to propose to Tammy, he wanted to save it for a special occasion. Being that Tammy wanted to go to a club; Andy felt that it was not an appropriate place to pop the question. He mainly wanted to do it the following day, September 27th, as it was a special day to him, when it was the day that they had met, in Fortune City, and in the Atlantica Casino where Tammy used to work as a mermaid performer. It was a fateful day for those two indeed.

It was nighttime, and the couple went out to La Tropicana, the nightclub that they were going to. It had a tropical theme, as there were lights of palm trees and the like inside. Being that south Florida is close to the Caribbean, the club had a Caribbean-like theme to it. The couple had arrived, dressed to impress with Tammy wearing a small blue dress with straps and high-heel shoes, and Andy was wearing a gray button-down shirt with black pants and black sneakers. They were ready to have the time of their lives.

Once they got into the nightclub, a lot of people were seen dancing, drinking, and doing other forms of socializing.

"Seems like a nice place, huh?" Tammy yelled amid all of the music blaring.

"What?" Andy responded.

"I said this place seems nice," Tammy said to his ear.

"Yes, yes, it does," Andy said.

The couple went to the bar to go grab a couple of drinks. Andy agreed to join his lady at the club, as he read how the nightlife in those parts was rather active. Andy wanted to go to the theater that was nearby to check out those double-features, but he later read that the movies were going to be shown during the weekend, as it was still Thursday and he had all weekend to do that before leaving to go back home. It was not like Tammy dragged him, as Andy agreed to it. Not to mention that he had learned to dance better not long after the two got together so that he could make a good impression for Tammy on the dance floor.

* * *

**8:28 PM**

Meanwhile, outside, a block away from where the club was, a man was walking around the area and turned his head towards something that seemed irregular at that moment. The man turned out to be Paul, who then took a closer look, and it looked to be another man who appeared to have his hand on the back of his neck, like if there was a pain aching right there.

"Excuse me, sir, are you okay?" Paul said.

"Go, go away!" said the other man.

"What is wrong?" Paul insisted that he'd try to see what was wrong.

"Back away, you don't want to be near me!" said Man 2.

Nothing had stopped Paul from trying to see what the problem was, if only he knew, or figured what the issue was at hand.

"I was stung by a bee!" said Man 2.

"Okay, you might be going through an allergic reaction, I'll try to call for help…" Paul said, as he was reaching for his cellphone.

"It's not going to do me any good, this was no ordinary bee!" Man 2 said. "My advice to you is… GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

He looked at the other guy confusedly, until he got to his feet. Paul looked at his eyes, as the pupils had faded and glazed over. Veins started popping out on the guy's face and right then, the head started twitching and blood started dripping from the guy's mouth. Paul's eyes widened at that moment, as he took a step backward slowly, and then sped up a tad, only for his eyes to shift to his right and saw something from a distance, like another person who may or not have been among the living.

"Holy shit!" Paul said. "I better get out of here."

He ran as fast as he could, in hopes that he would find a place to hide in, but first he needed to find some people to warn about what he just witnessed. He had run a block, only to find La Tropicana. He had no choice but to warn anybody on the outside. The man approached the front entrance and walked up to the bouncer. It turned out what he saw near his cabin confirmed his fears.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" The bouncer said right when Paul approached the door area. "You're not getting in."

"Look, I need to warn some people about what I just saw and that they need to get out of here and find some place safe, if you could just let me in…" Paul politely replied.

"Wait, safe from what?" the bouncer said.

"This might sound crazy, but I think I saw some zombies about a block away and I think they might be coming this way," Paul said. "I will be out of here if you just let me go in and warn everyone here."

The bouncer looked right at Paul, but rather than let him go into the club to warn people, he just let out laughter at what he had just heard, in spite of what had happened in other parts of the country before.

"Zombies, man, you're crazy! Get out of here!" The bouncer retorted.

From a distance, while Andy was dancing with Tammy, he had noticed Paul talking to the bouncer. Something about this gave him a suspicious vibe.

"Andy, what is wrong, why are you slowing down?" Tammy said.

"Oh, there is something off about that guy," Andy said, while he was looking towards the doorway.

"He probably just wants to get in," Tammy said, even though she somehow suspected that was not the case.

"Right, maybe that's the case," Andy said, but only to try not to get into anything odd about that guy's behavior, given that he didn't look appropriately dressed to go clubbing, nor did it seem that he was desperately trying to get in to go dancing, but for some other reason.

Paul did not want to listen to the bouncer, so he insisted on getting into the club to warn people through the speakers about what appeared what to be zombies and that people should just get away right then. Right as he got close to the door, the bouncer picked Paul up and threw him out onto the sidewalk. But rather than accept defeat at the hands of the burly doorman, he had one thing to say. "Don't say that I did not warn you." Paul then went on his way to find some place to hide to from the undead. He ran to the last place he remembered where he parked his truck. He had only gotten out to walk around to clear his head, and that was when he saw the guy who was about to reanimate.

Not long after Paul had left, the same two zombies had approached the club, along with other zombies following them, as they had found some fresh meat on the vicinity. The bouncer looked over at the zombie horde.

"Oh shit!" the bouncer said with his eyes widened. He wished that he had listened to Paul right then.

* * *

**HOTEL CARIBBEAN; 8:52 PM**

It was almost 9 PM and Ana was set to call it a day. She had already had finished her shift, but she stayed a little longer as she was training for a position that she wanted to get into, which was working security, but it was mainly for another reason as the hotel job was not her main job. Suddenly, her cellphone started ringing.

"This is Torres," Ana said.

"Hey, Ana, you might want to come back to base as soon as possible, like right now!" said the person on the other line.

"Wait, what's going on?" Ana appeared shock at what the contact told her to do, like it was so sudden.

The contact replied, "I got a tip from someone that some crazy shit is going on at the swamp south from here, like harvesting some weird wasps and some other shit. I think we may have found our link to our case. Also, we got word from that person that there may be another problem on our hands."

Ana turned her attention towards the automatic door and a young woman ran right in, only to trip and fall.

"I will call you back," Ana said as she hung up the phone and then walked towards the frantic young woman. "Excuse me, are you okay?"

"No, I am not, I saw a zombie!" the young woman yelled.

"A zombie?" Ana did not know how to respond to that, even though zombies were not uncommon up to that point, and then she looked up and a zombie entered the hotel lobby. Ana thought fast and reached inside her purse and picked up a pistol and pulled the trigger as the zombie approached, and then dropped dead completely as soon as a bullet hit the forehead, but not without blood spraying right onto the woman's face.

Ana then approached the young woman, who started crying. "Excuse me, miss, but what is your name?"

"My name is Rachel," the woman said, as she cried and shook at what she had just experienced.

"Listen to me; are you staying at this hotel?" Ana said. "If you are, go up to your room and stay in there where it's safe."

"I am not checked into this hotel," Rachel said. "I just needed to find some help from the zombie."

The only thing Ana had to keep in this situation was her head. "Look, I know a safe place where we can go; you just have to trust me. I will take you there."

Still shaken from the zombie almost attacking her, Rachel agreed to follow Ana's lead to safety. Ana looked in her purse to ensure that she had some extra clips in case she ran out of bullets. Lucky for her, there were some extra clips in there. Rachel had followed Ana into the parking area where the hotel staff have their vehicles parked. She found her SUV and clicked the key to unlock the doors. Out of nowhere, another zombie appeared, but Ana wasted no time in shooting the zombie in the head. She quickly got into the driver's seat, while Rachel went into the backseat and lied there cowering in fear after what she had just witnessed.

Ana put the key into the ignition and just sped off. As she drove, she noticed zombies out into the other parts of the resort area.

* * *

**BACK AT LA TROPICANA**

As the zombies had approached the nightclub, the bouncer suddenly wished that he had listened to Paul, even though he was warned not even a full five minutes ago. It did not matter, as the bouncer was not about to go down without a fight as he quickly shoved one zombie out into the street, but he lost focus that a few others found their way inside and were met with screams and other similar reactions when someone would see a zombie. All of the excitement on the dance floor and in the bar area went full stop as more zombies found their way in through the outside area and inside, not just through the main door. The bouncer tried with all of his might to fight the zombies off, but did the only other thing he could in that situation: run for his life.

With everything happening so quickly, Andy and Tammy looked up and the two had the same thought in their head: Oh no, not this again!

It had not even been a full two years since the Fortune City Outbreak, at least since they had been rescued, even though it was practically that amount of time. Even though both of them had experienced something like this, they had hoped that they would not go through something like it again, but no one, not even Andy and Tammy, had anticipated this. In Andy's case, it seemed that Madame Poulet's premonition from before had finally come, not to mention he believed that his nightmare from two weeks prior, as well as watching that news talk show earlier that day had foreshadowed this.

_Think fast, Andy._ He thought to himself. He would run for his life right then, but he remembered that Tammy was not wearing the right footwear for running, so there was only one thing he could do. But first things first, as a zombie had approached him and Tammy, Andy looked behind him and saw a glass on the table. He picked it up and smashed it against the table and saw that the remains of the glass were sharp and then jammed the glass right to the zombie's neck and then sliced it as blood splattered onto the dance floor, along with the zombie's rotting carcass. While Tammy just picked up a chair and threw it right at another zombie approaching them, it was enough to knock them down, but not out. However, Andy thought fast and saw that another table was close to them and then knocked it over them while they remained on the ground. He was not sure that they were going to stay down, so Andy delivered a swift kick to one zombie right at its chin and then beheaded it. He then went over to the other zombie and pushed its body up and then just pulled its head off with his bare hands. Tammy stood there puzzled at what she saw her boyfriend do.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" Tammy could not believe she just saw.

"I don't know, it just came to me," Andy said.

It was time to finally get out of the club before they would fall victim as well. Andy was not about to run out there and expect Tammy to follow as no one could run on high-heels. As Tammy stood there, she let out an "Ooh!" when she felt someone grab her from behind and by her legs, and who else would it have been other than Andy? She was more than relieved, however.

"This brings back memories, huh?" Andy said.

"Ohhhh yeah," Tammy said without having to think.

"We need to get out of here," Andy said, as he carried Tammy, while a lot of carnage was going on around them in the club. He ran as fast as he could while he carried Tammy outside, with several club-goers trying to run for their lives, getting eaten, or worse – turning into zombies themselves. Tammy held on tight to Andy, and told him not to let go of her. Andy did not want that to happen, as he was afraid of something happening as bad as what happened in his nightmare.

Once they got to the corner of an intersection, a black SUV pulled up with the passenger window already down and someone had yelled out, "Andy! Tammy! Get in!"

Andy and Tammy turned their attentions right to their left and saw that it was Ana who was driving the SUV. Without hesitation, Andy, with Tammy still in his arms, went right into the passenger seat. Tammy sat on Andy's lap, as he promised that he was not going to let her go. Right after that, Ana locked all doors to the car and rolled the passenger window up and then put her foot on the gas to get out of there as fast as she could.

"Ana, man, are we glad to see you," Andy said.

"I heard about something like this happening and saw a zombie and saved that poor girl in the back from it," Ana said. "Oh, by the way, this is Rachel."

Andy and Tammy looked in the backseat and saw her lying there and said "Hi," which caused Rachel to say the same thing, albeit nervously.

Tammy looked over at Ana and said, "Thank you so much for this, where are we going?"

"You'll see, and you're welcome, by the way," Ana said. "You have a good guy right there."

"I know he is, this also reminds me of when we first met," Tammy said as she looked over at Andy, while Ana looked over at that the two for a split second with one side of her mouth briefly opening to reveal her teeth, but she needed to maintain her composure.

Ana floored the gas and saw that zombies were on the road as well. She did not want to stop, so she ran over some zombies in the process. Blood had splattered onto the windshield, so Ana reached for the button to turn on the windshield wipers to wipe off the blood.

It was not long until they got off the mainland and onto an island where they found what appeared to be a mansion with a gate at the front. Ana reached for a remote control to open the gate; once they got on the grounds of the mansion, Andy and Tammy looked on with amazement and confusion as to why they were brought to a place like this. Ana parked her car right at the driveway and exited, along with Andy, Tammy, and Rachel. Right when she walked through the front door, a man wearing a formal button-down shirt and a tie, and also appeared to be in his 40's approached Ana.

"Ana, thank god you're here," the man said, and looked over at Andy, Tammy, and Rachel. "And I see you brought some people with you."

"Simpson, I saved them from the outbreak," Ana said. "We need to keep them safe here until we get word from Special Forces about evacuating any survivors and cleaning up the mess." She then looked over at the three. "Oh, and by the way, this here is Agent Bruce Simpson, he is my superior officer."

Andy and Tammy looked at Ana with even more confusion in their eyes, like something was not right in this situation. Andy did not hold back at asking questions.

"Hold up, you're a fed?" Andy asked.

"Yes, I am, well, I am still somewhat of a rookie," Ana said.

"But you work at the hotel," Tammy said.

"It's a side job, until some other things come up," Ana said. "I am not authorized to tell more."

"Hey, you saved our asses out there," Andy said. "You could at least give me some sort of idea as to what is going on out there."

"You're civilians, we can't tell you anything," Agent Simpson said.

Andy did not want to believe what he had just been told. Despite not having been in contact with Ana for years up to this point, he had a history with her. However, it did not matter because how was he supposed to know? He did not follow her on social media or anything like that. He had not been in contact since sometime after they had graduated high school.

"So how long do we have until we get rescued?" Tammy asked.

Bruce replied, "We don't know. I had spoken with someone and they could be coming in about three or four days. Today is still Thursday, so we may have to wait until Sunday or maybe Monday."

The three survivors looked at each other like they didn't believe what they had just been told.

"Couldn't we just get on a boat from here and then find somewhere else to lie low?" Andy said. "You see, my girlfriend and I are on vacation and our flight does not come until Sunday."

Ana looked over at Andy and gave her input. "We will find a way to get out of here, but right now, I think the Navy and the Coast Guard have certain areas blocked off."

Bruce interrupted. "I had just contacted a head of the Zombie Defense and Control, and they may come tomorrow to try to hold back some zombies out there in some parts of Palm Tree City. Personally, I just hope this virus does not spread into other parts of the state, like Cape Coral, Fort Lauderdale, or even all of Miami-Dade County. We may have a big problem on our hands."

Despite there being a lot of room of their base of operations, which appeared to be an abandoned, or confiscated, mansion, Andy did not want to spend the next few days cooped up in there, especially wearing his club wear. Neither did Tammy, as that dress she was wearing was mainly worn on special occasions. Andy turned around and walked towards the door.

Tammy turned around when she saw that Andy was walking away. "Hey, where are you going?"

Andy turned to her and said, "I have to go back to the hotel to get our stuff."

Another feeling of déjà vu had hit Tammy, as something very similar to this had occurred when they had first met. "Just leave our stuff there, okay? We can replace them."

Andy did not want to go with what she had said, as something very important was in his suitcase. "Listen, I just want to get our clothes and stuff."

Tammy then realized that she did not want to spend the next few days in that dress. "Hey, Andy, I'll go with you," only for someone else to jump in.

"No, I'll go with him; I'll take him there," Ana butted in. "I know this area well, and I can protect Andy."

Tammy looked at Ana with some skepticism. _Why do I get the feeling that I don't trust her?_

"Thanks, Ana, but I think I got this," Andy said.

Ana said, "Do you think you can carry two suitcases on your own?"

_She has a point._ Andy thought. _However, I've been through something like this before, but she knows this place better than I do._

"Okay, take me to the hotel, but you need to give me a weapon," Andy said. Ana led Andy to a room in the house that had exactly what he needed. It had every type of weapon known to man.

Damn, who owned this place? He thought.

One weapon stood out to him: a shotgun. However, he saw something else that he could probably use in the process – an axe. He also picked up some extra shells in case he needed to reload the shotgun.

With a look of preparation, the only thing he could say at that moment was, "Okay, let's go."

Tammy then approached Andy. "Look, Andy, don't do this. Remember, this is bigger than Fortune City. What if you don't come back?"

"I will come back, I promise you," Andy said. "I just want to get our things."

Her skepticism was running wild at that moment, but the one thing that she did was wrap her arms around him and then kissed him on his lips. "Promise me you'll be back, okay?"

"Don't worry," Andy said, while Ana gave him the signal so that they can leave.

Andy and Ana left the mansion and right into her car and they were on their way back to the hotel.

As Ana was driving to get to where they needed to be, there was one thing on her mind.

"Hey, Andy, why do you need to get your stuff so badly? I am sure that you can find some clothes in that house, and I think there were some women's clothes that Tammy could wear," Ana asked. "I can offer her some of mine."

"I have a very important thing in my suitcase, and I do not want to lose it," Andy said. "I had something special planned for this trip."

Suddenly, Ana started to figure what Andy meant. "Are you saying what I think you mean? Are you going to ask Tammy to marry you?"

Andy was not surprised at he had just heard. It did not matter, because to him, the conversation was just between two old friends.

"Yes, I want to propose to her," Andy said.

Ana looked straight ahead and took a quick glance down. "You really love her, don't you?"

"You have no idea," Andy said, while he looked towards his right, out the window, as he noticed several zombies walking around.

Ana drove and could say one thing, but it was not what she really wanted to say. "She is very lucky and blessed to have you, Andy. You're a great guy, and I really wish you a lot of happiness."

I really wish that I had been a better girlfriend to him, even though we were only teenagers then. I never really got over him. She had only thought what she really wanted to say.

"Okay, being that we are two old friends, because we have known each other since middle school," Andy said. "What is going on? How did you become a fed? And what is the deal with the mansion?"

Ana knew where Andy was coming from. Being that her superior officer was not around, she figured that she had to let Andy in on what was going on.

"Okay, I applied for the FBI right after I had graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science about two years ago, and I had only been in school for three years," Ana said. "Do you remember how I used to be such a computer whiz?"

"How could I forget?" Andy said. "That was your passion."

"Well, I spent the last two years learning a bunch of stuff and I had finally gotten my big break as a field agent about six months ago," Ana said. "I am in the middle of a case of trying to locate Carlos Mendoza and take him in."

Suddenly, the name had rung a bell to Andy's ears. "Wait, that Cuban drug lord? It was said that he had gone into hiding. Nobody knows where he is."

"That mansion belonged to his dad, but ever since his dad went to prison and had been sentenced to death row, we had taken his mansion as our base of operations for months now," Ana said. "Also, the hotel, Mendoza owns it, and I've been trying to get some Intel on it."

Andy looked at her and had only one thing to say. "This is some heavy shit."

"You have no idea," Ana said, as she drove right into the parking garage right by the hotel. "Okay, we're here. I'll cover you."

"Okay, but I think I got this," Andy said, as he cocked the shotgun. "Let's do this."

They had entered the lobby, which was now infested with zombies. It appeared that the zombies had gotten the bellhops and the desk clerk since they had left. It had only been an hour since the outbreak had started in that area. Just the thought of it spreading to other parts may be even more problematic than everyone had feared.

Andy wasted no time in blasting a few zombies in the hotel lobby, while Ana gunned down a few in the process. The hotel's tile floor was ridden with blood and zombie brains. Andy and Ana had wasted no time in heading towards the elevator, and Andy hit the button to the ninth floor, where his and Tammy's room was. Once they got to the floor, the duo noticed that it was clear, as no zombies were to be seen.

"Something tells me that zombies don't know how to operate elevators," Andy said. "Never mind, I am here for one thing."

Andy headed right for his hotel room, and got out his keycard to open the door. He headed straight to his suitcase and reached for the pocket where that special item was, and it turned out to still be in that same envelope from before. He put it right back into the pocket.

"Hey, you take Tammy's suitcase, and we'll head back to your car," Andy said, which caused Ana to nod her head.

As they left the room, out of nowhere, they noticed another living human, who was a short, older Hispanic woman, who was pushing a cart. Being that Ana worked there; she knew the woman and went to talk to her. The woman mainly spoke Spanish.

Ana talked to the woman in Spanish, ["Miss Teresa, what are you doing here?"]

Teresa responded, ["I fell asleep at some point while I was on my break and now I am back to work. What time is it?"]

Ana said, ["It is 10 PM. I thought you were gone already. This is my friend, Andres. Something really bad is happening outside; we will take you some place safe."]

Teresa asked, ["What is happening outside?"]

Andy gave his input. ["There are zombies outside. We don't have time; we must get out of here."]

Ana then turned her attention and looked right at Andy with confusion.

"Hey, I took Spanish in high school. It helped me talk to your parents when we were dating, remember?" Andy said to Ana.

Ana told Teresa that the hotel was not safe for her, and that she knew a place to keep her. Teresa agreed to go with the two. Teresa offered for them to use her cart to carry the suitcases down to Ana's car. All three of them got on the elevator and headed down to the lobby, only to find that some more zombies had gone in there. Ana told Teresa to wait a bit, as she and Andy went into the lobby and started blasted the zombies.

At some point, Andy hung the shotgun on his back and pulled out the axe and then swung it right at the side of a zombie's face. Blood squirted out of the zombie's face and went right onto Andy's shirt. He had released the axe and then swung it overhead onto a zombie's head, which stood still, until he had detached it from the zombie's head, causing it to fall down.

"Was that all of them," Ana asked.

The two had looked around and it seemed clear to them. Ana approached Teresa.

Ana said, ["Are you okay, Miss Teresa?"]

Teresa, shaken at what she just saw, responded, ["I'm okay, let's get out of here!"]

The three headed to Ana's car, as they wasted no time getting in. Andy put the suitcases in the very back and then closed the tailgate and headed right to the front passenger side. Ana quickly started the car and raced out of there to get back to the mansion.

Ana drove as fast as she could. The only traffic that she had to worry about was the zombies on the road, so she didn't care if she had to run over some to get to her destination.

Once they got to the mansion, Andy went to the back and told Ana to open the tailgate so that he could get the suitcases out. Tammy then opened the front door and saw that they had returned, along with another survivor. She then approached Andy with a lot of relief that he had come back. She opted to take her suitcase into the house, while Andy took his inside as well.

Tammy then stopped Andy before they got into the house. "Hey, baby, I just want to say something. Next time, have me go with you."

"No, it's too dangerous out there," Andy said.

"Look, I can handle shit like this," Tammy said. "I can help you in situations like this. Besides, I have to look out for you. I just don't want to see you get hurt, nor do I want to see you hurt yourself, if you know what I mean."

"Right," Andy said, as he nodded his head. "I love you, and I know you have what it takes."

Tammy smiled at what she had just heard. They then went inside the house.

Ana approached Agent Simpson to see what was going on. "Hey, Bruce, did you get any word as to when the military will be here? What about the ZDC?"

"The military might get here on Sunday at around noon," Agent Simpson said. "The ZDC might come to Palm Tree City to look at some things at around 1 PM tomorrow. In the meantime, we should try to find a way to see if there are any living people out there and bring them somewhere to safety, whether it's here or anywhere else out there."

Ana replied, "Where are the others?"

"I have not heard from them in hours," Simpson said. "I'll try to contact them soon. We are short-handed right now."

"Maybe we can help," a voice had said which then caused Ana and Agent Simpson to turn their attentions to Andy and Tammy.

"I don't know about this," Agent Simpson looked at the couple. "We should have professionals do this."

"I know we don't seem like much help, but we have been through something like this before," Andy said. "All I need is for you guys to give me Intel on where to find some people."

Agent Simpson had a lot of skepticism in the matter, but Ana filled him in on how Andy handled himself out there just a little while ago.

"Okay, I'll trust Torres's word on this, but if something happens to you out there, we will not be held responsible," Agent Simpson said.

Andy and Tammy nodded their heads in agreement. They then turned around to go sit down before they go on what would be a suicide mission.

"What a day this has been, huh?" Andy said. "We were here for a vacation, but then we got caught up in a zombie outbreak. Why must this happen to us?"

Tammy turned her head and then put her left hand to his face. "Baby, we didn't know that this was going to happen. At least we know what to expect now. I mean I am not trapped on a clam in the middle of a casino with no way to walk. And I would hope you are not the suicidal guy that you were when I first met you. Ana said that you handled yourself well out there, and I saw what you did tonight."

"Yeah, you're right," Andy said. "We have to think positively on this, and we will make the best out of a bad situation. This might turn out to be a better vacation than we think right now."

Tammy smiled and chuckled, and then leaned her head against Andy's shoulder and wrapped her left arm around him while they were on the couch.

**September 26th**

** 10:32 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**85:28:02**


	5. Friends Reunited and a Bloody Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy couldn't sleep, so he finds something to do, even if it means going out in the pit of danger.

**September 27th:**

** 12:45 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**83:14:58**

Andy lied in a bed with his eyes open while Tammy lied there with him, though she was asleep. It had been a rough day as what was supposed to be the start of their romantic getaway; it ended with a zombie outbreak.

It was nothing new for these two, as they had endured Fortune's End, but for Andy, it was almost as if he had anticipated that it would happen. From the nightmare he had a couple of weeks prior, to watching a talk show, and finally to seeing a fortune teller, whose prediction proved to be real.

He had hoped that he was not going to have to encounter something like this again. While he was not going to bring out the suicidal and depressed version of himself that he was two years prior, he still felt a sense of fear about zombies, despite holding his own against them when he and Tammy got out of the club, and also when he and Ana went to go get his and Tammy's things from the hotel, not to mention brought along a survivor with them. He could not sleep, especially when he sensed something in his mind.

_The only way I could overcome my fear is to face my fear. I feel that this is the way. I must deal with it._

He got up and exited the bedroom, only to see that Ana and Agent Simpson were still talking about the situation that they were facing. Andy looked on from the distance.

"Look, do you really believe that these two people you had saved can be of some help?" Agent Simpson asked. "I have my doubts about this."

"I am not saying that they are right for this, but after what I had seen from Andy, he could try to be of some help to us," Ana said. "I sort of believe in him."

Andy walked down the stairs as he listened to their conversation. "Hey, what are you guys up to?"

Ana and Simpson turned around as soon as they had heard Andy's voice.

"Andy, I thought you were sleeping," Ana said as she was surprised to see that Andy was awake.

"I couldn't sleep, I have a lot on my mind right now," Andy said. "Hey, do you guys have anything on what may have caused the outbreak?"

Ana responded, "So far, we have nothing. We were told by some guy that something was happening out there. I am not even sure if we should focus on this problem, or on the problem we were already working on."

"Have you heard from your other fellow operatives?" Andy said.

"We have contacted some, but they're caught up in some stuff, only one other guy had come back, and he needed to rest after what he had just endured," Simpson said. "He will wake up soon."

Out of nowhere, Rachel, the girl who Ana had saved from earlier, came out and approached everyone else. "I have something that I need to say."

Everyone else had turned their attention towards her right when she said that, as she looked down at the floor.

Ana replied, "What's wrong?"

"You see, I left my friends behind out there and I am afraid that they did not make it," Rachel said, as she sounded sad.

"Wait, what are you talking about," Ana said.

"I was out with some friends, and they were partying with some guys at this club," Rachel said, sounding like she was about to cry. "I stood outside to get some fresh air, and that was when I saw the zombie and then ran for my life."

Ana put all the pieces together as she saw how scared Rachel was for her life when she saw her enter the hotel lobby. "Listen, this is not your fault. You just reacted quickly. I am sure they are safe."

Andy listened in on their conversation. "Where were you last before this all happened?"

"We were at the Havana Nights club," Rachel said. "Although I am scared to think that they had died."

Ana and Andy felt some compassion for Rachel, who clearly showed that she was sort of emotional over something that may or not have happened, but there was only one way to find out. Ana got up and walked down the hallway to her right, while Andy followed her. She found a door that said "KEEP OUT." When she opened it, Andy saw that the room had a lot of television monitors.

"What the hell," Andy was shocked at what he was seeing. "Did Mendoza need to check on the whole town or what?"

Ana turned around and faced Andy, "That's not important, but we should also look to see if there are other living people out there. If there are, maybe you could help them."

"What? Me?" Andy said. "This is new to me."

Ana retorted, "Look, our other guy, Paulson, is asleep at the moment. Mendoza had a lot of closed circuit cameras scattered over the city, as well as his premises. I can help you right now while looking through the cameras. Maybe I can find Rachel's friends."

"I am not sure if I can bring back a lot of people, especially with this being a pretty big town and we are on an island that is off the mainland," Andy said.

"What you could do is find a safe place for them, and then we will send out some other agents to find them and then bring them here," Ana said. "Or you can bring them over here, it's your call." Ana got out an earpiece and handed it to Andy. "Here, you will need this. I will be on the lookout."

Andy looked around a noticed the TV monitors had several different feeds at once, and turned around to make sure no one was listening. "Just wondering, but how did you gain access to the feeds?"

Ana leaned forward, to ensure that no one was listening. "I hacked into Mendoza's system."

Not surprised at what he had just heard, Andy nodded his head. He then turned around and noticed some other doors down the hall. He opened one and noticed that a workbench was there, along with some tools, and through another door was a room that contained different items stored in there, like baseball bats, and other things. He found a wooden baseball bat and took it into the maintenance room. He saw a box of nails, along with a hammer, which then led to Andy hammering the nails into the bat, when he put together a Spiked Bat. This would not be the first time that he had done this, as he noticed a man named Chuck Greene doing something like this before, not to mention he had taken some shop classes in the past. Plus, he showed his crafty side during a couple of suicide missions that he endured two years prior. He then walked up to the bedroom where Tammy was sleeping and saw the shotgun that he used before and picked it up, wrapped the strap around him to hang the weapon behind him.

Ana and Rachel turned their attentions towards Andy, who looked determined to do this. Despite his façade, he still had fear going through his system, but nonetheless, this was the way he had to face it. He approached Ana with one thing on his mind.

"Hey, do you have the keys to the van that I saw parked outside? I may need to bring in more than a few people," Andy said.

"I do," Agent Simpson said who was behind him when he said it, and then tossed the keys to Andy. "Be careful out there."

Andy then approached Rachel. "How many other girls were there?"

"There were only three other girls," Rachel said. "We were at the Havana Nights. Please bring them back, okay?"

Andy nodded his head and then approached the front door to make his exit. He clicked the van and then went to driver's seat and started the ignition. He then pushed the button on the remote control to open the gate and was on his way.

* * *

**TIME: 1:09 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**82:50:37**

Right when he was on the road, the earpiece he had started to ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Andy, I looked through the club that Rachel said her friends are, I saw a person walking in the main area of the club, where a lot of bodies were lying, but the person looked like she was getting something to drink, I think you should check it out," Ana said.

"On my way," Andy said as he pushed down on the gas a little more. He drove, but it almost seemed that this was something new to him. While he was in the middle of a zombie outbreak before, he didn't go through anything like this before. He may have seen a lot of killings occur, he was also jumped by looters who tried to mug him, and he also went on two suicide missions to get some stuff for Tammy, but having to save people? This was new to him.

He got onto the mainland, where more zombies crowded the area.

_Holy shit._ Andy thought to himself. He rolled past the club where he and Tammy were hours prior. _Man, what the hell is happening out here?_

Being that he was out there all by himself this time around, he had to get out his cellphone to look for the club where that girl's friends were. He noticed on the GPS that it was just a couple of blocks away from La Tropicana. He saw the lights on the buildings were still on. In a place like this, most of these nightlife businesses were likely functioning in the after hours. He went right on to the opposite lane to run over more zombies that were crowding around the entrance to the club. He quickly got out of the van and slammed the door so that no zombies would try to get in. One zombie tried to approach him, but Andy quickly reacted and whacked the zombie in the face with the Spiked Bat. Blood had sprayed onto his shirt, while another zombie approached him from behind, but Andy hit the zombie in the gut with the end of the bat and then swing the Spiked Bat overhead onto the zombie's head, instantly killing it. He then let go and the zombie's already-rotting corpse fell right to the ground. Andy noticed an insect barely flying out of the body and then fell to the ground.

"Huh?" He thought out loud, and then saw more zombies approaching him and right before he was about to kill more zombies, he took a step with his right foot unknowingly right onto the insect that was on the ground. Right when he was about to swing the Spiked Bat, he noticed that the zombies started convulsing, shaking, putting their hands right to their heads, only to see that some had collapsed and some whose heads exploded and blood splattered over the ground.

What the hell just happened? Andy thought to himself, and then moved his foot, only to see that the insect had been smashed by his foot. Huh, I think I read about something like this.

Andy went inside the club and heard some voices coming from somewhere. The voices sounded female, but he had no idea where to locate them.

"Hello?" Andy said. "Is anybody there?"

He heard them, as they were coming from a hallway and at the top of it, it said "Staff only." The more he walked, the clearer the voices sounded to him.

"I can't believe Rachel ditched us like that," one voice said.

"Come on, she just went outside while we were dancing," another voice said. "You know her; she is shy and has trouble talking to guys sometimes."

A third woman had said. "I just hope she's not dead. I am afraid that she can't handle herself out there."

Andy approached what appeared to be a green room for when musical acts come to perform. He knocked on the wall to get the girls' attentions, all of whom turned around.

"I am sorry, I could not help but overhear you talking about a girl named Rachel," Andy said. Once one of the girls heard the name, she quickly turned towards Andy.

"Wait, do you know where she is?" the third girl said, as she grabbed Andy's shoulders.

Andy looked at the girl very in a very puzzled way. "Yes, I know where she is. She is at a safe house right now. She was really worried about all of you."

One of the girls looked at Andy with suspicion. "Wait, are we talking about the same Rachel? What does she look like?"

Andy described her as somewhat mousy and skinny, but cute, and was a brunette.

"Sounds like her," said the suspicious girl. "My name is Brittany." She pointed to the other girl on her right, "This is Liz," and the other on her left, who was scared for Rachel. "This is Heather."

"I'm Andy," he said. "I will take you to her."

All three girls were safe and were more than glad to hear that their friend was still alive. Heather showed a lot of concern as she knew that Rachel would be really scared in certain situations, never mind the fact that they were facing the undead.

All four people got into the van, with Andy in the driver's seat, ready to escort the girls to safety, and then his earpiece rang. "Hello," he said.

"Hey, Andy, I got some more things you may want to look at," Ana said. "I got something here about a guy bringing what looks like a woman into a martial arts school. This seems kind of off to me."

"I'll get to that, but right now I am bringing these girls back to the house," Andy said.

"I got you," Ana said.

Andy started the ignition to the van and they were on their way. Brittany rode shotgun, while Liz and Heather were riding in the back, where there were no seats. Andy had displayed little emotion while driving these three, as he was mainly there to get these three to safety.

Brittany looked at Andy, "You're cute, by the way."

Andy replied while facing the road. "Thank you."

"Do you have a girlfriend," Brittany said.

"Yes, I do," Andy did not hold back responding Brittany's question. "She is actually at the safe house right now."

Brittany then turned her head to face forward after having heard that. Andy did not deny that the three girls were attractive, but out of loyalty to Tammy, he was not going to try flirting with other women. If anything, he had a stoic front up, trying to make this seem like it was just something he wanted to do to get these girls to safety, and back to their friend.

He did not have to travel very far as the island was not far from the nightlife, and the mansion was close to the coast of the island, too. Andy parked the van right when he went through the gate. The trio of girls got out of the van and went inside the house, and the first thing that they had noticed was Rachel sitting on a chair. The first thing that came out of Brittany's mouth was, "Rachel?"

Rachel looked up and her eyes widened in relief that her friends were now safe.

"Oh my god, guys, I am so sorry that I ditched you!" Rachel said. "I was so scared!"

Brittany, Liz, and Heather all hugged Rachel. "We're not mad at you, we know you, and we are not surprised how you would have reacted. Just be happy we're all alive." Brittany said.

Meanwhile, Andy walked away and up the stairs to do something what he knew he needed to do. He opened the door and noticed that Tammy was still asleep. He walked up to her and sat beside where she was lying. He rubbed her soft red hair and then leaned over to kiss her on her forehead. She still remained asleep when that happened, as Andy took off to do yet another task.

He then exited the room and walked down the stairs without saying a word and walked right out the door and then went into the van to go look for the martial arts school that Ana had told him about. He reached for the radio so that he could contact Ana.

Ana sat in the security room and looked through some stuff and suddenly her radio started ringing. "Hey, Andy, what's up?"

"Hey, can you tell me the name of the martial arts school you saw someone taking in that woman?" Andy said.

"I think it's called 'Tiger and Dragon Martial Arts Dojo,'" Ana said. "Just look at your GPS and you'll find it."

Andy got out his phone and went to his GPS and noticed that was further than where he already was. He had to drive a few blocks up to find some other businesses besides clubs and bars. He may have come across some survivors at this point whom he and Ana had escorted to safety, but there may have also some that were affected by the outbreak in other ways. As he drove, the GPS told him which ways to go. At some point, the GPS had said "You have arrived," which then caused Andy to look up and see where the school was. He took the Spiked Bat with him, but as he got out and closed the door, the shotgun he had was left on the front passenger seat. He had walked towards the door to the school and some zombies had approached him. Andy wasted no time in whacking the zombies with the bat. He then opened the door and noticed that the light was on, like it was open for business, despite what time it was.

* * *

**1:51 AM**

"Hello, is anybody here?" Andy said, as he walked in. He noticed what appeared to be a woman dressed in a karate gi with blonde highlights, but was tied up and gagged with tape on her mouth. She also appeared to be Asian. The woman tried getting Andy's attention by making some noises. Andy then turned his attention and approached her.

What is going on here? Andy thought, and then out of nowhere, a guy jumped right at him with a kick. Andy quickly dodged the attack and then rolled backwards. What the hell?

Andy looked up and noticed a man dressed in kung fu gear, the type of garb that Bruce Lee wore. The man appeared to be Asian as well, who was holding a weapon that had a blade at the end of a chain. The man appeared to be in his 30s.

"You dare try to challenge me?" The man said. "You dare try to challenge Bo Kang?"

"What?" Andy said.

"I said you dare try to challenge a Shaolin Monk, master of the Liquid Sword?" Bo said, as he swung the weapon, and then did a pose and put his out and gave Andy a signal. "Come on, do not disappoint me!"

Andy had no idea what to think, but he was not about go without defending himself.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: BO KANG**

Bo swung his liquid sword and then threw the blade in Andy's direction, which caused him to dodge. The blade barely passed Andy's neck, whose eyes widened when he realized how lucky he was. Andy swung the spiked bat in Bo's direction, but he quickly dodged the attack. Andy tried it again but to no avail again, only to be met with a powerful palm strike to his face, which sent him falling backwards. Bo then picked up a staff with a blade at the end and jumped in the air to try to slash Andy, who then quickly rolled over right when he was about to get hit.

Man, who is this guy? What's up with him? Andy thought as he lied there, and then saw kendo stick nearby. He got up and then reached for it. Bo spun around and noticed that Andy was up and was ready to attack him. He ran towards Andy. As Bo got close, Andy clocked him over the head with the kendo stick, which caused Bo to fall to the ground.

_Man, I feel like The Sandman. Where's my beer?_ Andy thought. Bo then got up and reached for the liquid sword again, while Andy picked up the spiked bat once again. Andy then gave Bo the "Come on" signal this time. Bo swung the chain and threw the blade towards Andy, who then used the spiked bat to guard him. The chain had wrapped around the wooden part of the bat, as the chain was right next the nails. Bo then pulled the chain to lure Andy towards him, but as Andy got closer, he swung the bat towards Bo's face, which then caused the nails to scratch his face, as blood had squirted out from it.

Both weapons fell to the floor, as the chain from the liquid sword had unwrapped from the spiked bat, which Andy then picked up. Bo then rubbed his face and noticed the blood right on his hand, and then looked up towards Andy with a nasty scowl, and tried to swing the blade towards him, but then Andy whacked Bo in the gut with the bat and quickly swung the spiked back to Bo's head and scratched his head, causing more blood to shed. Bo had fallen forward, which caused Andy to give him a blank stare, like maybe was already out. Andy then approached the hostage.

Bo then got up and yelled, "You!" as he pointed towards Andy, who then turned around to face Bo. "You proved to be a good warrior, but you did not defeat me! Nobody defeats me! Not even her!" He said that when he pointed at the hostage.

Bo then picked up the liquid sword and swung it, but this time it was the opposite end as he threw that end up to the ceiling where that end had wrapped around something, and then he swung the other end to wrap around his neck.

"I cannot live with this shame, farewell," Bo said, as he tried to hang himself, only for the chain to loosen slightly and then the blade had cut Bo's throat as blood started dripping from his neck and then his corpse fell right to the floor. Andy looked on as he was ready to vomit from that sight. He then approached the hostage, and then untied her and removed her gag.

"Thank you so much, young man," the hostage said. "What is your name?"

"My name is Andy," he said. "What happened?"

"He went nuts," the hostage said. "He probably wanted to prove he was the best martial artist out there. My name is Tomomi, by the way. I am a martial artist myself."

"Hey, let me get you to safety, I know a place," Andy said.

"Hold on a second, you just saved my life, I need to repay you somehow," Tomomi said. "How about if I help you kill some zombies? I know how to take them, whether it's with my hands and feet, or with other weapons. I got your back on this."

"Okay, you can help," Andy said. "I'll still get you to safety eventually, but I can also call for your help if I need it."

Tomomi nodded her head. "Let's go."

Andy and Tomomi had gotten up and walked towards the door. Andy looked towards Bo's body and thought to himself about what he got himself into.

They had gone into the van and rolled around in the van and went to the beach area that had the nightclubs, including the one that he and Tammy went to earlier. He had noticed someone at the doorway, someone familiar, and the person looked alive, too.

Andy told Tomomi, "Hey, I think we should talk to this guy. Something must not be right here."

Andy and Tomomi approached the man, who was a big African-American man. The man appeared to be the bouncer of La Tropicana.

"Hey, man, what's going on?" Andy said.

"Man, I don't know," the bouncer said. "All I can say is that I didn't think that this was going to happen. Earlier tonight, some guy came to me to try to warn people about the zombies, but I didn't believe him."

Suddenly, Andy started to remember when the bouncer talked about this guy, as earlier, while he and Tammy were dancing; he noticed something may have been up.

"Wait, this guy, did he wear a leather jacket with a plaid shirt underneath?" Andy said.

"Yeah, and he talked with an Australian accent," the bouncer said. "If only I got his name. He really wanted to tell everyone to get out of here."

"I saw that happen earlier," Andy said. "I was here with my girlfriend."

The bouncer looked over at Tomomi. "Is this your girl?"

Andy shook his head. "No, I just saved her from a crazy guy, my girlfriend is safe somewhere else."

"Wait, was your girl that gorgeous redhead in that blue dress?" the bouncer.

Andy nodded his head. "Yes, that's her."

"I think I remember seeing where he went, he seemed like he went down that way," The bouncer said, pointing to the right. "But he could be anywhere. Last I saw him, he was driving a pickup truck and he had a dog with him."

Suddenly, the radio had rung and Andy pushed the button to listen on his earpiece. "Hey, Ana, what's going on?"

"Andy, I think you should take a look at something," Ana said.

"I can't right now, I am in the middle of something," Andy said.

"Well, all I can tell you is that I have noticed some guy rolling around in a pickup truck with a dog in the passenger seat," Ana said. "He seemed to be taking pictures of stuff, and then he sent us some pictures that seem to show what may be going on."

Andy realized that the guy who Ana mentioned matched what the bouncer had described. "Where did you last see him?"

Ana looked closely at the monitor and replied, "He was going into a diner and had what looked like a laptop with him. I'll give you the location."

Andy entered the location in his GPS, and then looked towards the bouncer. "By the way, we should get you to safety."

"No, I'll help you, I can handle myself with these zombies," the bouncer. "I'm Marcus, by the way."

"I'm Andy," he said to Marcus. "Let's go look for that guy."

Andy went back into the van with Tomomi and Marcus to go look for the suspicious man found on the monitors, whom Marcus had encountered earlier that night.

**TIME: 2:39 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**81:20:45**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding the psychopath fight, it was inspired by Zhou from Dead Rising 3, as well as the old video game, "Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style." I even imagined some Wu-Tang songs playing in the background like "Protect Ya Neck" or "Bring Da Ruckus."


	6. The Mysterious Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who was that man at the club? What did he want?

**September 27**

**3:02 AM**

It had been a long night for Andy, which has now moved into the early morning. It was now 3 AM, and the only thing that he could think of was to try to look for a man who may know a thing or two about the outbreak. He had been awake for hours. Even when he was at the mansion, which was the safe house/base, he could not sleep, as everything he had feared became a reality for him. Fortunately, he was going to try to keep his head straight on this, as he had backup with him on this mission.

He had endured a lot in the span of a day, and now he was on the second day of what was supposed to be a vacation to celebrate the two years since he had met the woman of his dreams. Come to think of it, that day was the exact date two years prior when the two first came into each other's lives. There was no time for Andy to worry as a rather important matter was at hand, not to mention that his love was still back at the base asleep.

With two people by his side, one being Tomomi, who had shown that she could use her martial arts skills against the undead, and the other was Marcus, who provided a lot of power and strength against zombies. Andy had some protection with him. Despite showing that he could hold his own against zombies, he was not quite at the point where he could do it all on his own, nor make it too far on his own, either.

Nothing else mattered, as Andy and his crew had found a diner that Ana had mentioned that this mysterious figure may have been hiding from the undead. For more than 20 minutes, they had walked around a few blocks trying to look for the diner. Why they didn't drive could be anybody's guess, but because one person in the group was actually familiar with that area, he realized that they did not need to drive around. Once they found a diner with a pickup truck parked in front, there was little doubt that the person was in there.

"Let's see what this guy knows," Andy said.

As they approached the restaurant, more zombies approached the group. Andy quickly got out his spiked bat and swung right at a couple of them at once. While Tomomi let out a strong crane kick to a zombie that so was strong that it beheaded the zombie. Marcus picked up a zombie in a military press position and then threw it towards a horde of zombies. The horde of zombies crumbled as they all dropped to the ground the moment they were all hit by the flying zombie. As Andy got closer to the diner, he jumped the moment he felt something grab his shoulders. He turned his head and noticed that the hands looks decayed and felt a head close to his. He froze, like the chill that ran through his veins as his heart raced rapidly. He knew deep down that an ounce of fear was still in his system, but he was not about to give in to it, when the zombie's mouth started closing in on his neck, he barely managed to move his head away, and elbowed the zombie right in the gut, which caused the zombie to release its hands from his shoulders. Right when the zombie let go, he turned around to face it and picked up the spiked bat and then whacked it right in the gut and then released the bat to swing it overhead onto the zombie's head, killing it in the process.

His body trembled and froze at what he had just endured, as he fell to his left knee. A chill ran through his veins, like the feeling one would get when they are in 20 degree weather while wearing a tank-top and shorts, which was odd considering they were in a tropical climate with humidity and warm temperatures. But no amount of warmth could change how he felt. It was like his body temperature dropped 40 degrees. Of course, this feeling that Andy had was purely psychological which took a number on how he felt physically. Marcus and Tomomi then came to his aid when they saw that he was shaking in trauma.

"Are you okay, Andy?" Marcus said. "You seem shook up."

Andy was still shaking from having been in the hands of a zombie, but he then took a deep breath, as he had to think positively or else he would not get very far. "I'll be fine, let's get moving."

Marcus helped him get to his feet, as they were right in front of the diner at that point. They noticed that the door was blocked off by what appeared to be chairs and a table, and as they got right to the door, through the window showed a man sitting at the counter with a laptop computer and his dog right by his side. The man turned out to be Paul from before.

"That's him, that's the guy," Marcus immediately recognized him. Andy took a closer look and recognized him as well. He then approached the door and knocked on it to get the attention of Paul. He then turned around and went to the door, but had to look out the window to make sure there weren't any zombies nearby. He picked up the chairs and the table to pave the way to open the door, while his dog nearby was barking.

Paul opened the door and uttered with his Aussie accent, "May I help you?"

"Yes, you may," Andy was forward in the matter. "I think you may know something about what is going out there. Let us in, we need to talk to you."

Andy walked in, with Tomomi following him, and as soon as Marcus walked in, Paul let out a venomous "YOU!" with a scowl on his face. "What's he doing here?"

Paul approached Marcus with a lot of rage, as he did not forget what happened earlier that night, or the night before. Regardless of what day it was, it had only happened more than six hours before. Andy acted fast and tried to break the two up before anything could happen. Paul maintained the anger he had towards Marcus, as it was not just about the fact that he did not let him in the club to warn people, but he threw him to the ground. That, in and of itself, was enough to hold some anger towards someone.

"Look, he has helped me in killing zombies out there," Andy said. "If you can just listen to what he has to say, maybe things will be better."

"Listen, sir," Marcus said.

"My name is Paul."

"Okay, Paul, I am so sorry about what happened earlier," Marcus said. "I really wish I had listened to you. I feel that it was my fault that the zombies came and ate up everyone there. I am sorry that I did not believe you, and I really felt terrible for throwing you."

Paul looked at Marcus with disdain, with his head tilting a tad. Could anybody blame him for feeling that way? Not letting him in was one thing, but being thrown was something else.

Not wanting to let this be about the conflict between Paul and Marcus, Andy said, "I heard you took some pictures of some stuff."

"Where did you hear this?" Paul said suspiciously.

"My friend is with the FBI and she told me that you had been sending pictures to people about things you saw out there," Andy retorted.

Paul's suspicions grew. "Who are you? Are you one of the feds?"

"Do I look like a fed?" Andy replied. "Look, I am risking my ass out there, killing zombies, I even killed a psycho and saved a few people. I am doing my friend a favor, and it seems that you are the only person who may know something about the outbreak."

Paul was not sure if he could trust Andy in this whole thing, but because he was surprised to see that some people are surviving the outbreak so far, he had no choice but to show Andy what he knew. Paul went to his laptop and opened up a folder that contained the photos and videos of what he shot. From a distance a middle-aged woman approached the group of people looking at the computer. She appeared to be in her mid-40s and was wearing an old school waitress uniform, as she appeared to be working the graveyard shift. Being that it was in the crazy hours, it was no wonder how short-handed the staff was, as from a distance appeared to be a middle-aged Hispanic man working in the kitchen.

"Hey, Paul, what is going on here?" said the waitress. "Who are all these people?"

The way that the waitress addressed Paul by his name implied that she already knew him, as it seemed that he may have been a regular at that diner, which may seem that he went during those late hours when nobody else would be going there, unless they went to get something to eat after going out to party. With Palm Tree City's nightlife, it was a mystery how there were no other people there to keep safe.

"Oh, hey, Louise," Paul said. "These people are trying to get some information on what I might know."

Louise replied. "Look I can't go out there. My shift is almost done, but the last thing I want is to get eaten by zombies."

Andy looked at the pictures on the screen, as he did not want to get into the conversation between Paul and Louise. He noticed some people in hazmat suits carrying jars with those insects. Not just any kind of insect, they looked like the wasp that he saw earlier and according to the video, it looked like the wasps were swarming on the swamp.

"Hey, where did you take these pictures?" Andy asked Paul, which got his attention.

"I live near the swamp that is close by," Paul said. "I saw these people with tents out there do some research and trying to harvest these weird bees. I think I read about this in a book called 'The Willamette Incident.'"

Just then, Andy looked up and then realized what that wasp was. "Wait, do these wasps come from a place called Santa Cabeza?"

Paul answered, "I believe so. I read about these strange bees."

It was then that Andy realized that when he read that book, as well as the book, "Fortune's End," that he was glad that he had done some studying. The horrific nightmares that he had, particularly the wedding one, gave him an interest in zombies and also an interest in the previous outbreak that occurred five years before the outbreak he found himself in. He read about the Queens, a wasp that was genetically modified with a certain type of hormone. He then realized why the zombies all died when he stepped on it.

Andy's eyes widened and then looked right at Paul and slowly asked, "What happened…before you got…to that club?"

"Why do you need to know?" Paul asked.

"I saw what happened to you with Marcus, because I was there with my girlfriend at that same club, and then the zombies came right after you left."

"Okay, I was walking around the area to ease some stress," Paul said. "I saw a man sitting in an awkward position with his hand to his neck. He slowly turned into a zombie when that happened."

Andy got up and put his fingertips against the edges of his forehead and shook his head. Just then, his transceiver rang and then connected through his earpiece. It was Ana who called him.

"Hey, Andy, did you find anything," Ana asked.

"Oh yeah, I found some stuff, it seems to be crazier than I thought," Andy said.

"Look, can you have that guy come here? We need to ask him some stuff," Ana said.

"I'll try, I'll get back to you later, one more thing, if you see through the pickup truck through the camera feed, have Agent Simpson open the gate for them," Andy said before hanging up, and then faced Paul. "Hey, my friend just called. She wants you to go over to the safe house to answer some questions. I'll give you the address."

He then turned his attention towards the diner staff. "Hey, you guys should go with Paul. He'll get you to safety. It is not really that safe here."

"I'm not sure about that," Louise said. "I'm afraid of getting bitten out there. I saw some people get bitten and then turned, some were just eaten alive."

Andy then remembered something he had read before. "Hey, I think I can help you try to avoid getting bitten. Do you have a blender?"

Louise looked at Andy with a puzzled expression. "Why do you need the blender?"

Andy retorted. "Watch and you will see." He looked around to see if there was any food that he could use. He found some bacon and an apple, and then put them in the blender. The more it blended; the liquid had turned red, and found some cups to put them in.

He then found some beans and a beer somewhere, because this diner serves alcohol. But before he could blend the food, he took the blender cup to the sink nearby and rinsed it. Once he was done with that, he put the cup back on the blender and put the food in it to blend. Once blended, it turned into a purple liquid. Andy then found some other empty cups and poured the substance into them. Andy took a swig of the red drink, and gave the cups with the red stuff to Tomomi and Marcus, who then drank them, only to see that to them, it tasted funny.

"Man, what is this?" Tomomi said.

"Yeah, this tastes kind of weird," Marcus said.

"It's supposed to have the zombies not try to grab us," Andy said. "I'm not sure if it works, but we have to see." He then looked at Paul and Louise, and the cook, whose name was not given, and told them to drink the purple liquid.

Louise looked at it like it was a risky move, as the purple stuff did not look drinkable to her. "What is that stuff?"

"From what I understand, this stuff is supposed to repulse the zombies enough that they won't want to get near you," Andy said.

"I hope you're right," Louise said, as she took a swig of the drink and gave a bitter look in the process, and then turned towards the cook. "Hey, Julio, come take a drink of this."

Julio drank the purple stuff as well. Paul just took a swig, but from what it seemed, he didn't think it tasted badly. "I just hope you're right about this."

Andy told the diner staff and Paul to follow them as he, along with Marcus and Tomomi, were likely going to fight zombies coming towards them. Paul said that he'll drive Louise and Julio to the safe house. Luckily for them, Paul's truck was still in front of the diner. As soon as all six people exited the diner, Andy and his crew had to make a break for it as they had their ride parked a few blocks away from where they were.

"Hey, we will meet you there in a bit," Andy said, as Paul nodded towards him.

As the trio were walking, some zombies approached them, and looked like they were about to touch them, but once they got close enough, their hands moved away from them, as if they could not touch them. However, that did not mean that the trio was going to do the same thing, as they killed some zombies on the way back to the van that Andy was using.

Meanwhile, when Paul and his dog got in the truck, Louise and Julio looked around and noticed that the zombies were paying them no mind, like they did not want to go near them at all.

Wow, I guess this does work. She thought, but there was no time to waste, as it was time to get to safety. It would be a better option to go to a safe house than to see how long the effects would last from that mixed drink that they drank. Not to mention who knows how long it would last, and once it wore off, it would not be worth the risk being out there. So she entered the backseat area of the pickup right behind the front passenger seat, while Julio sat behind Paul. They then took off to their destination.

Andy, Marcus, and Tomomi found their way back to the van, as it was still in front of La Tropicana. By that point, the effects had worn off from the mixed drinks, but no matter, as they had gotten into the van and they were off. Andy then looked at his watch and it was almost 4:30 in the morning.

_Man, how did I stay up all night? And this isn't over yet._ He thought.

* * *

**SAFE HOUSE**

**September 27th: **

**4:35 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**79:24:27**

Inside the bedroom, Tammy lied there asleep. She had turned around and put her left arm to the other side of the bed, only to notice that no one was there, which caused her to wake up. She then reached for her phone and noticed that it was around 4:30 in the morning. She had slept for five and a half hours and realized that Andy was nowhere to be found. The only thing she could do was reach for her cellphone and call him, as she was really worried for him.

As Andy drove back to base, he heard his phone ring and the contact that showed up was none other than Tammy, whose picture appeared on the screen.

Oh shit, she is up. He thought, but then answered her call. "Good morning, angel. You're up early."

"Yeah, I woke up and noticed that you weren't here," Tammy said, as she sat on the bed. "Where are you?"

"I am out and about, I am heading back to base, I found something that might be linked to what led to this outbreak, and I also saved a few survivors and also fought a crazy guy," Andy said.

With Andy talking to her through a phone, he could not see that Tammy had put her right hand to her mouth and that her eyes widened after having heard what he had gone through. Andy's more than lucky to be alive, but he could only imagine if he had told her about the close encounter with the zombie that he had. Or maybe she was just surprised at all he had done within six hours while she was asleep, and she wished that she had gone with him. Only Tammy knew what was on her mind at that point.

"Did you kill him?" Tammy asked.

"No, I fought him, but he killed himself." Even if Andy killed him, it would have been in self-defense, not exactly murder. After all, how he got there was that Ana told him about the person the psychopath had held hostage and how the video feed just seemed off. "Listen, babe, I am on my way, we will discuss this when I get there."

"I'm more than happy that you're okay," Tammy said. "I will see you soon."

Tammy sat on the edge of the bed as she looked at the floor deep in thought about what had happened. Numerous thoughts had come to mind about what may have been going on. She wanted to be out there to help her boyfriend try to see what was going on, as she had shown in the past that she can hold her own. She had saved Andy from a zombie nearly biting him when zombies had breached the Fortune City Emergency Shelter. She reacted quickly at the club hours before when zombies had come towards them. So it was not like she cannot be of any help to the issue that Palm Tree City was under.

For a couple of weeks, she had read about Willamette, and she also read the memoir about Fortune City, which she was in. She had gained an interest of some sort in the undead, especially after having encountered some in the past. But really, if she had not been there at that time, she never would have met her prince. Andy felt the same way, especially since that right before he had met her; he had contemplated killing himself, as he felt that he had enough with life after having seen some people die at the hands of zombies, or even becoming some themselves. It did not help that he got mugged by some looters, either.

Really, it was Fortune's End that brought them together, and Chuck Greene was the cupid who fired an arrow that had dynamite taped to it and once it hit Andy, the impact of the explosion had affected Tammy. In their case, fate worked in a very mysterious way.

Could Andy's nightmares that he had weeks before have led to her developing a bigger interest in it, especially with the news reports talking about it being the anniversaries since Willamette, Las Vegas, and Fortune City? Could he have possibly predicted this? What was even odd to her was that this was all happening two years after Fortune City. When they celebrated their one year anniversary the previous year, nothing had happened, so it was peculiar why this all happened now, even before they went on their trip.

Tammy then got up from the bed and approached the door and noticed some people standing down there talking with Agent Simpson and Ana. It was not long until a blonde guy with the same club wear from earlier with bloodstains on it now walked in through the door with a burly black man and a female martial artist. There can be only one blonde guy with bloodied clothes, which then caused her to exit the room and go down the stairs. As she walked down, Andy looked up and then went walking towards her. Andy then turned his attention towards Agent Simpson and the others.

"I will catch you guys in a little bit, I need to talk to her," Andy said as he went up the stairs with Tammy.

Once they walked in through the door, Tammy immediately closed and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "Why didn't you tell me you were going out there?"

"You were sleeping," Andy replied. "You were so tired and I didn't want to wake you up. I had trouble sleeping and Ana needed my help with stuff. So I went to go save these girls who were friends with that girl Rachel from earlier. I did a lot in a few hours. But when I came and brought those girls back, I went to check on you. You were still sleeping."

Tammy realized that she had no right to be upset, especially with an outbreak happening again, and Andy was awake and just happened to risk his life out there. He also had a close call with a zombie.

"Okay, I understand, but I think you need to rest," Tammy said, who then looked at Andy's clothes. "And clean yourself up. You have blood all over yourself. I can't believe you're still wearing the same clothes from when we went to the club."

It was now 5 in the morning and Andy went to go clean himself after the long night he just went through. A lot of blood was all over him that he looked like he had walked away from a murder scene. Though really, he kind of was, in many murder scenes, to be exact. He was in the shower, while Tammy was getting dressed in something more comfortable if she was going to join her man in this adventure. She found a pair of blue jeans and put them on, along with a green, orange, and white striped tank top, and then found a denim jacket that she brought, though she was not sure if she would need considering the weather. She put it on anyway, along with a couple of tennis shoes that she brought.

"Hey, baby," Andy yelled while taking a shower. "Can you bring my suitcase in here?"

"Why?" Tammy replied. "I have seen you naked so many times and you have changed in front of me many times. Besides the door to this room is locked, so you don't have to worry about anybody walking in."

Andy let out a sigh after having heard Tammy say that, but it was true. With those two already living together, it should not be an issue as they had been in states of undress in each other's presences. Andy had no choice but to get out of the bathroom wearing a towel. He went right for his suitcase and found some clothes to wear, some that he was not going to be opposed to messing up, unlike his nicer club clothes that he wore the night before. He found a pair of blue jeans and a red Hawaiian shirt to wear, as he was in the right type of location to wear such a shirt.

"How do I look, angel?" Andy said.

"Like a man on vacation," Tammy said. "Only this is no ordinary vacation."

Andy went forth and hugged his girl and kissed her. They then got out of the bedroom and noticed Ana standing right by the staircase, as she called for the couple to come down, as the main thing on everyone's minds was what led to the outbreak in the first place.

"Hey, so what's the scoop?" Andy asked.

"The man has not said much, but we did talk to him about the photos and videos that he took," Ana said.

"Did he say anything about that?" Tammy asked.

"From what he had told us, it took place at a swampy area that is about 5 miles outside of the city," Ana said. "He told us that is where he lives, and that maybe it had something to do with these wasps that stung people."

Both Andy and Tammy gained a look of shock after having heard that.

"Wait, we have read the books on the Willamette Incident and Fortune's End," Andy said. "I also found some articles on the Vegas outbreak that took place after Willamette and there was something mentioned about a wasp that has some special genetic modification. Funny thing, I came across one of those earlier as I took out a zombie and then it flew as the zombie fell to the ground, and then I smashed it, only to see more zombies just dying from the impact."

"I think I have looked up some stuff about that myself," Ana replied. "But there is something off about this. Those types of insects don't travel at a fast rate. Mr. Williams did say that the swamp where these people had the tents set up is miles from here. There had to have been some other way to get the bees out here. He also told us when he came close to a few zombies last night. It seemed that a swarm of the bees had found its way out there, but 'how' is the question."

Some of the stuff that had occurred the night before just did not seem to add up. While Paul did notice the work that some people were doing close to his cabin out there, there was nothing that suggested that there may have been some malicious stuff going on, not to mention that he could not get closer to gain any information. All the information that he found was taken through visual means.

Agent Simpson approached Ana, along with Andy and Tammy from the hallway. "Um, Ana, come look at this." He looked at the couple and told them to come along as well.

The three followed Simpson to the surveillance room and found something puzzling. Agent Paulson was now up and had taken over the duties of being on the lookout of things, as he and Ana took turns. One of the TV monitors displayed an image of what appeared to be two government agents wielding assault rifles and wearing helmets and vests.

"Wait, who are they," Ana asked.

"I don't know," Simpson said. "Hey, Paulson, can you zoom in a bit?"

"Yes, I could," he said, as he zoomed in on the feed, and from the looks of things, the vest had the letters ZDC on them.

"Wait, they're here already?" Simpson said. "I thought they were supposed to come later to try to keep some of the zombies at bay. It's almost 6, it's too early."

Andy, despite being one of the civilians involved in all of this, had jumped in. "There is something strange about all of this. It seems that there are only two agents out there. Shouldn't there be more than two?"

Everyone in the surveillance room started to wonder why there was such a small number of agents out there, as no other feed had any visuals on other ZDC agents scouting various parts of the city. Simpson had noted the night before that the leader of a ZDC team was going to bring in some troops early in the afternoon, but it was early in the morning at that point. Even if some of the agents were getting an earlier start, there had to have been a lot more than just two out there. Something just did not seem right out there. However, another suspicious image came on that same feed, as the same two agents went into an alley and unmasked themselves, revealing what looked like a man in his mid-30s and a younger guy. However, in another feed, even more suspicion arose as some shady-looking figures that were carrying weapons all walked in formation and looked to be walking in a direction that was close to the alley where the two were going.

"What do you think they're doing?" Andy said. "I think we should go help them."

Simpson replied. "Wait, we don't know what is up."

"Well, we shall see, there may be more to this," Ana said. "I am going out there." She turned to the couple. "You two come with me."

Andy and Tammy nodded, but a look of curiosity sparked on Tammy's face as she looked a little closer to the feed with the two agents. It was like the younger agent had a familiar look to her.

_Nah, it's not him._ She thought, but she will soon find out.

Agent Simpson told Ana that he would go out there as well to go look for any of their fellow agents who got caught up. "We will meet later."

"Right, see you out there," Ana said and then turned to Paulson. "Hey, please be on the look out for any survivors. We need to get some more to safety."

"I will, Torres," Paulson said. "I will call you if I find something."

Agent Simpson took off in his car, while Ana, accompanied by Andy and Tammy, took off in her SUV, ready to go see what may be up out there. It may have been early in the morning, but with a lot of crazy things that happened in the span of 12 hours, there may be more to come.

Tammy was a bit nervous in joining Andy on this. To her, there were two different perspectives; one being that she was going out into the outbreak to help uncover the truth and maybe kill a few zombies herself; the other being that she was also joining Andy's ex-girlfriend on this, as it seemed that she may be a rookie on this. She didn't feel jealous, as it was not the time to have those emotions, as something much bigger was at stake. One other thing that was on her mind was that she needed to keep an eye on Andy on this, as she was afraid that he would regress to past emotions, despite him having been in the outbreak not long before.

**September 27**

**6:15 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**77:45:00**


	7. Coming Upon an Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tammy joins Andy and Ana on the action, only to find themselves in a troublesome situation.

**September 27**

**6:37 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**77:21:54**

It had been about 20 minutes since Ana lead Andy and Tammy to go to what may be the aid of two ZDC agents who may or may not be attacked by some criminals who were wielding weapons. A lot of people on the streets of Palm Tree City may have been affected by the zombie virus, but there may have been more who were still alive. The people who were seen on the camera feed were very much alive, but who knows what the deal with those people was?

There was only one way to find out, as Ana drove to the location of the ZDC agents with Andy and Tammy in tow. For Andy, it probably would have been a better idea for him to stay back at base considering he had a long night, which has now gone into the early part of the day. However, Tammy wanted to join, and the last thing that Andy wanted was to see her get bitten and then turn, as he did not want his nightmare from weeks prior to turn into reality. Tammy felt she could probably hold her own, and Andy and Ana have her back if things were to turn sour. Considering she would do anything for her man, she has Andy's back and Ana's as well.

Ana drove back into town. From the looks of things, the area where the two agents were somewhere adjacent to Little Santiago, a town in Palm Tree City that has quite a large population of Cuban-Americans, as well as Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. With Ana being a young Mexican-American woman, she has a way of communicating with them, as she managed to convince a hotel maid to come along the night before. But judging by how the guys on the feed looked, they looked like they could be gang members. The main thing on her mind was whether or not those guys were going to attack those agents. She then pushed the button on her earpiece to contact Paulson back at base.

Ana said, "Paulson, do you have anything on the feed about the two agents and those guys that we saw?"

"Those two agents look to be walking around in that general area," Paulson said. "As for those crooked-looking guys, they look like they're trying to keep themselves alive by defending themselves against zombies; but even then, they all appear to be walking in formation like they're on some kind of mission. They also look like they are heading in the direction of those agents, but I can't confirm that."

Ana replied, "Can you try giving me a location?"

Paulson looked a little closer to the monitor, "The ZDC agents look like they are walking around Little Santiago, and I would be careful if I were you."

"You don't have to tell me," Ana said. "All three of us will be fine."

As if the undead were not much of a problem already, it would seem that a street gang was holding court on their turf. Most of the time, gangs would try to be professional when dealing with their own stuff. They would not just prey on innocent civilians, but rather deal with rivals or if anyone tried to mess with them, but then there was a possibility about law enforcement being nearby, as criminals don't like dealing with law enforcement. However, some gangs just don't care and will harass anybody.

Ana had received the location information that Paulson had provided, and she went towards the direction that the GPS had led her to. She did not want to waste any time, as she once again rammed zombies left and right. The streets of PTC were swarming with zombies, so there were no real concerns of hitting anything else, unless there was another living person nearby, but they were likely hiding somewhere else from the undead. As she drove, some zombies managed to climb onto her SUV and the windows were crowded with the zombies on the vehicle. She then cranked the gas up more and as the car sped faster, some zombies managed to drop from the car. She then made a quick glance at Andy and Tammy.

"Do you guys have your seatbelts on?" She asked.

"Yeah," Andy said.

"Yes, I do," Tammy said as she looked around scared at all the zombies covering the windows.

Ana took a deep breath. "Brace yourself for what's about to happen." She then stomped right on the brake pedal which caused the vehicle to come to a hard stop. Right when the car stopped, several zombies lost their grip from the car and then fell forward from her car. Ana's head came close to the steering wheel, while Andy used his right arm to protect his head in case it hit the dashboard. Tammy was so close to hitting her head against the front passenger seat, but was only off by a few inches.

Ana then turned her attention towards Andy and then Tammy. "Are you okay?"

Andy sat there panting after what just happened. "Yes, I am." He turned around to face his girlfriend. "Are you okay, angel?"

Tammy looked shocked and then panted. She then took a deep breath. "Yes…I am."

Ana shook a bit from what she had just done. She was already scared from the fact that zombies were on her car, but the fact that she hit the brakes hard and she, along with Andy and Tammy, could have gotten hurt in the process. Still shaken from that, she undid her seatbelt and then got out of the car. Andy got out of the car and approached the door to the backseat and then approached Tammy and then put his hands to her face as she sat there shaken from what just happened. Ana stood there with a look of mixed emotion on her face. Could she have thought that they needed to get going, or was she still jealous about what Andy has with Tammy?

"It's okay, baby," Andy said. "We're safe. Now let's go see what's going on."

There was no denying how lucky she was to have Andy by her side. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's go."

It then occurred to Andy that Tammy forgot to arm herself before they left. Andy still had his spiked bat, but he then realized that he had left the shotgun he used before in the van that he drove. He handed Tammy the spiked bat for her to use.

"What are you doing?" Tammy said.

"You will definitely need this," Andy replied, and then looked around noticed a pawn shop called Chest of Pawns.

_I think I can find something to use in there._ Andy thought.

Tammy and Ana turned around and noticed Andy approached the pawn shop.

"Andy, what are you doing?" Tammy said. "We don't have time for this."

"Come on, let's get going," Ana said.

Andy turned around and said, "I'll be right back. Or you can follow me. I just need something."

He noticed that the door was locked, but then noticed a brick lying on the ground. He then picked up the brick and then broke the window on the door and unlocked it from the inside. The alarm went off, but considering how the city was at that moment, it seemed unlikely that the police would respond to the alarm going off. Andy walked in and noticed some things that he could use. One thing that drew his attention was a set of knives inside a glass case, and then saw a pair of boxing gloves. He picked up the gloves and broke the glass case of knives, and from a distance, he saw a roll of duct tape behind the counter. He went to the counter area and then picked it up, and then taped all of the knives to the boxing gloves and then he had his weapon right there. He then saw a water gun and then saw a gas truck outside with a jerry can right by the tank, and then connected a strap to the water gun and then picked up a lighter on the way out. He had no time to lose and walked right past the women when he exited the store and approached the jerry can and then connected it to the water gun.

Ana looked over towards Tammy and said, "What the hell is he doing?"

"I am not sure, but something tells me he is building a weapon," Tammy said.

Andy had to test out the weapon, so he got out the lighter and then pulled the trigger on the water gun, and as Tammy and Ana were approaching Andy, a flame emitted. The girls jumped in shock at the flame coming out.

"What the hell is this?" Ana asked. "Did you make a flamethrower?"

"Yes, I did," Andy said, and then put his makeshift flamethrower on his back and then put his knife gloves back on. "Now let's go."

Andy started walking with the girls now following him.

"I didn't know he was so handy," Ana said.

"Oh, he can be, at times, anyway," Tammy said.

The trio walked around to try to look for the ZDC agents. Along the way, zombies had approached them. Ana still had some firearms with her, so she started opening fire on the zombies. Tammy wasted no time in laying waste to any zombies who came her way. She swung the spiked bat right to a zombie's face, which it caused it to fall to the ground, but she was not done, as she continued to bludgeon the zombie until it stopped moving completely. Ana shot a few zombies in the heads without breaking much of a sweat, and then a zombie came up from behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Just when the zombie was about to bite her, Tammy clocked the zombie right in the back of the head, so hard that the nails punctured the zombie's head. Blood started to drip as the zombie had let go of Ana's shoulders. She turned around and noticed the corpse drop to the ground.

Visibly shaken from that, Ana said, "Thank you, Tammy!"

"Ah, it was nothing," Tammy said.

Meanwhile, Andy continued to kill zombies left and right with his knife gloves, as several walking corpses have now become complete corpses. So many bodies just kept dropping like flies, and just then, Andy noticed a big horde of zombies headed in his direction. Tammy and Ana came to a stop as they saw the large zombie horde, especially with some getting closer in proximity to Andy.

"ANDY!" Tammy yelled. "GET OVER HERE, NOW!"

Andy heard his girl, but the one thing that was on his mind was that he had a way to take them all out. He threw the knife gloves off his hands, backed away slightly away from the zombie horde and then picked up his homemade flamethrower from his back.

"Okay, guys, you want to play rough? Okay, say hello to my little friend!" Andy said. "Here comes the pain!"

Andy literally opened fire on the zombies. All of the zombies' bodies rotted a lot more than they already were, as they fell to the ground burning to a crisp. More zombies kept coming towards him and he continued to burn them all dead.

Ana and Tammy looked on with their eyes widened and jaws dropped, as they saw several of the walking corpses rotting even more as they burned to a crisp from all the flames. Andy then blew the barrel of the water gun.

Andy then turned around and faced the two girls. "I just cooked some rotten meat. Anybody want some?"

Tammy then approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. She noticed that some blood had gotten on his shirt, but being that his shirt was already red, it seemed that blood blended in with the rest of it. He then picked up his knife gloves.

"Hey, I was just joking," Andy said.

Tammy scoffed at what she just heard. "You could have been killed. I could have lost you."

Andy stood there and had a confused look on his face. He wondered why Tammy displayed some concern and minor disgust at what he just did. Ana then looked at him with the same emotion that Tammy had towards Andy.

"Why are you upset with me?" Andy said.

Tammy and Ana continued to walk around and then from a distance, one of them saw what appeared to be one of the ZDC agents that they saw on the feed.

"Hey, isn't that one of the guys we saw on the camera?" Tammy said.

Ana then looked straight ahead. "It might be, let's go talk to him."

The girls walked towards the ZDC agent. As they got closer, suddenly some guys called for their attention. The guys looked like they were Hispanic, maybe even of Cuban descent, or even Puerto Rican or Dominican, or even all of the above.

"Well well, what do we have here?" said one of the guys. "Are you girls lost? Well now we found you."

Ana and Tammy looked around and saw some other guys coming out from different areas. From what it seemed, they were all connected.

Andy fell behind as he walked a little slower than before.

What was up with Tammy? I don't see how what I did was wrong. I just killed a few zombies to get them off our backs.

Andy walked, but then he suddenly looked up and saw that the girls were surrounded by some guys.

_What the fuck?!_ He thought to himself, as he noticed that the girls were caught in a bad situation. He wasted no time as he started running towards them. Some of the gang members grabbed Tammy and Ana. As Andy got closer, he yelled, "Hey, let them go!"

One of the guys turned around and noticed Andy standing there. "Oh, we got a hero here! You dare step to the Caribbean Boyz? You want to step to Ricardo Colon?"

The guy who then approached Andy seemed like he was the leader of the pack, as he had an intimidating a vibe to him. He then went right to Andy's face. "Who the fuck are you?"

"That doesn't matter, you just leave them alone," Andy said.

One of the guys picked up Tammy and dragged her to an alley nearby. "Andy, help me!" Tammy yelled, as one guy ran his hand over her body and then cupped her left breast. Ana was given the same treatment, as she was taken away somewhere else.

"You want to throw down, don't you?" Ricardo said. "If you value your life, you'll walk away."

In the alleyway, the gang member ran his hand down Tammy's face, much to her disgust, and then reached for her pants, as he pulled up her shirt a bit exposing her midriff a tad and tried to unbutton her pants. However, Tammy quickly reacted and kneed the guy right in the groin. The guy bent over in pain, and Tammy then delivered a hard toe kick to his face, knocking him off his feet. Where Ana was, the guy tried to grope her, but she then grabbed him by his balls and squeezed them pretty hard. The guy screamed in pain. Ana quickly let go and then grabbed him by the head and then rammed his head against the wall, knocking him out cold.

Tammy then ran out from the alley and then saw the spiked bat on the ground. She picked it up and then wacked a gang member right in the head with it. She hit him so hard that a nail had pierced through the guy's head. When she released the bat from his head, blood ran down his face, but she did not kill him. If anything, it pissed him off as he got out a knife and went after her. Andy quickly reacted and cut him in the chest with one of his knife gloves. Blood started gushing out of his chest as he dropped forward face down on the pavement.

"Ho-lee shit," Andy exclaimed when he saw the guy drop, as more blood continued to leak from his body.

Ricardo then got out a knife and approached Andy from behind and was ready to stab him, but Tammy then wacked him in the back with the spiked bat. Though he felt the pain from the nails, he was not affected by it, as he turned around and walked towards her. Tammy, scared as to what he might do, walked backwards and shook as she raised the bat, but then tripped and fell backwards. Ricardo was clearly not scared, as he picked up his knife and was ready to grab her, but then the knife was kicked right out of his hand, and was then met with a trash can to the face. It was none other then Ana, who came for the save just in time. She threw the garbage can down and then put her hand out to help Tammy get up.

Out of nowhere, another gang member decided to try to do away with them and got out a handgun. Right when he was about to fire the gun, Ana quickly reacted and got her gun out and shot the guy right in the head. Blood sprayed right out from the back of his head and then dropped to the ground.

"Whoa, that was close," Ana said. She then looked up and saw the ZDC agent, who noticed a lot of the carnage nearby.

Ana led Andy and Tammy closer to the guy, who happened to be the younger agent. Tammy then took a closer look at him, and suddenly he did look familiar to him.

"What happened out there?" said the younger agent.

"We got caught up in something," Ana said. "I am Agent Ana Torres of the FBI. I am here to ask a few questions."

"Hello, I am Agent Simon Gates," said the younger agent, who then looked over. "Tammy, is that you?"

Simon Gates? Andy thought to himself, as he faced his girlfriend and then turned his attention towards the guy. Just then, Tammy's intuition from before was correct.

"Hello, Simon," Tammy said in a very unenthusiastic tone and then looked away from him.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Ana said.

"Let's just say that we have a bit of a history," Simon said.

Ana did not want to waste time. "Wait, don't you have a partner?"

Out of nowhere, the older agent came out. He appeared to be in his early-30s. "I'm right here. Hi, I'm Agent Brad Park."

"Hi, we were sent here by my superior and we wondered why you guys were here so early," Ana said. "My superior told me that you guys weren't supposed to come and try to help clean this place up until this afternoon."

"How do you know this?" Park said.

"I saw some footage on a camera somewhere and then saw these gangsters approaching you guys and thought that they were going to ambush you," Ana said.

"Wait, gangsters?" Park said.

"Well…" Ana said. She then pointed out the bodies of some of the gang members, who tried to attack the trio earlier. The group then approached the site of the ambush and noticed one guy was gone. Ana suspected that it could have been Ricardo, as she only hit him in the head with a garbage can, so he was not killed like the others. The fates of the other ones who seemingly tried to rape Tammy and Ana were unknown.

"Man, this looks bad," Park said. "I hope we don't have to deal with this. We got word about the zombie outbreak and came as soon as we could, but I guess we got out here a little early." He then looked over at Andy and Tammy. "Who are these two?"

"These are my backup," Ana said. "They're helping me fight the zombies."

Park looked at them like he was not sure if they could be trusted. To him, they did not seem like they were federal agents or anything of that nature, but rather civilians. He was right, but he had clearly not seen what the two were capable of.

Meanwhile, Tammy tried to walk away, but Andy turned around and noticed it and quickly approached her. "Hey, where are you going?"

"They have some stuff that they need to talk about," Tammy said, even though it was clear that it was something bothering her.

"Was this about earlier?" Andy said. "Look, I just got caught in the moment. I felt like I was in an action movie."

"No, it's not that," Tammy said. It didn't take long for Andy to figure out what she was talking about.

"Is that THE Simon?" Andy asked.

Tammy nodded her head. Though it may have been quite some time since she had last been in contact with that guy, a lot of the bad memories she had with him started to come back. But then again, he could also be a changed man, but it was clear that he was the last guy she wanted to see.

"Look, Tammy, he might be trying to help us in this," Andy said. "We just have to see what is up. I mean, did you think you would trust Ana on this?"

Tammy looked over to make sure she was not listening. "Actually, no, because I saw how she looked at you at times, but it seems that she understands that we are together. Plus, she has been quite a help for us in all of this."

From a distance, Simon looked over at Tammy and Andy as they continued to talk. He then looked over at the bodies of the gang members, like he wondered how three people managed to take on and kill them. From the looks of things, the trio looked like they were no match for the gang.

Park and Ana continued to discuss.

"Look, we will try to keep in touch about the issue," Park said. "We have about less than five hours until the rest of our men come and try to help out. I will let you know what is up."

"Well, if we're going to work together on this, I have some extra help," Ana said. "The people who are with me have been quite a help for me. My superior should be looking for some of my fellow agents. Just contact me when you find something, okay?"

"Right, Torres," Park said and then shook her hand and then looked at Simon. "Come on, Gates."

As they walked away, Simon continued to look at Tammy, and also Andy, who then took a quick glance back and noticed that Simon had a strange look on his face.

Andy and Tammy noticed Ana walking towards them.

"So what's the deal?" Andy said.

"Park told me that someone gave him the wrong time and that he was supposed to come with the others, but it seemed that someone gave him the wrong time," Ana said. "There is something that seems a bit off, though."

Tammy replied. "What's that?"

"Park clearly had no idea about the gang stuff," Ana said. "The only agent we saw was Gates. Park was somewhere else making call. Gates told him that he needed to keep the zombies off of them. Something does not add up here."

Andy and Tammy then looked at each other with confusion. Simon was the only one who was present when the gang ambush occurred. But even one would wonder what was going on and why the gang just happened to be in that general area at that moment.

I wonder if there is anybody who can help us figure out what is really going in. Wait, I think I know who can help. Andy thought.

A thought had hit him. Being that the outbreak had occurred the night before, he had been told earlier in the day that "something bad was going to happen."

"I think I know who we can go to," Andy said.

"Who?" Tammy said.

"Remember yesterday?" Andy told Tammy. "Remember how someone had said that something was going to happen? I think maybe she can tell us."

Tammy just realized what Andy meant. She recalled what she and Andy were told in the previous day, and then when night came, the outbreak had started.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Ana said.

"There's no time to explain," Andy said. "Let's go to your car. I'll drive this time."

The trio wasted no time in walking back to Ana's car. Of course, they didn't get there without killing some zombies along the way.

* * *

**September 27th**

**9:12 AM**

Ricardo walked around with the two gang members whom were attacked by the girls earlier, still limping after being attacked in a very sensitive area. Ricardo had to find an area where no zombies were going to try to attack them, because what he really needed to do was make a call to someone. He got out his cellphone and made a call to his contact.

"Hey, this is Ricardo," he said. "Look, some shit went down earlier. Some guy and two girls killed some of my, excuse me, our guys."

He stood there with his back still in pain from earlier. "No, we didn't get to meet the guy." He continued to stand there while his contact talked. "Because those people FUCKED OUR GUYS UP!"

The contact continued to speak, and then he replied, "Let me know when you get here, because we may have some shit on our hands." He then hung up the phone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy drove back the beach area to look for the fortune teller shop. He hoped that maybe Madame Poulet could be of some help to them. Ana rode in the backseat this time, as Tammy wanted to ride right beside her man.

Ana sat there and suddenly, her transceiver started ringing and then she pushed the button on her earpiece. "Hey, Simpson, what do you got?"

"I found some of our men," Simpson said. "At least some who are still alive. Did you get any information on the ZDC agents?"

"Yes, I did," Ana said. "I'll explain everything later. I told Park, one of the agents to come by base later, but he seems busy at the moment. There is a lot that we need to talk about, but we'll have to wait until later."

"Where are you now?" Simpson said.

"We're on our way to Palm Tree Beach," Ana said. "Andy thinks he knows someone who can maybe help us. I'll get back to you later."

Andy strolled around the area and found the place called "Poulet's Fortune Telling."

"I think I found the place," Andy said.

The trio got out of the car and approached the door. From a behind, a man carrying a long wooden stick approached them. "You're here to get answers, aren't you?"

The trio then jumped at the sound of a deep accented voice. They then turned around and noticed a man dressed in dark clothes, wearing a long coat, which was odd considering how warm the weather was in that place. He also had long dreadlocks, a rather thick beard, and appeared to be of Afro-Caribbean descent.

"What makes you so sure?" Andy said.

"You see a lot of things happening out here," the enigmatic man said. "It's like the devil had the dead rise from their graves and continue their unfinished business."

Andy responded, "I am not sure what you mean."

"All I have to tell you is be afraid," the man said, as he got closer to Andy. "Be VERY afraid. It's only a matter of time until the devil walks the earth."

Andy, Tammy, and Ana stood there in silence not knowing what to say to that. It was after 9 in the morning and the sun started to shine and heat up the city, but a chill ran through the spines of all three of them. It was like he may know something or may know Madame Poulet for that matter. The man then walked away while the trio stood there frozen stiff.

"That guy scared me," Tammy said.

"I can't argue with you on that, Tammy," Ana said.

"Let's just go do what we need to do," Andy said, and then opened the door. "Wait, it was unlocked?"

Andy, with Tammy and Ana behind him, noticed that the place was still clean as it was the day before, and the lights were on, too. He then went back outside to see the business hours, and it said that the place was not open yet. Why would she be there? It seemed that Poulet lived in the apartment upstairs, but everything seemed like it was open. They had to see what was up.

**September 27th**

**9:59 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**74:00:57**


	8. Looking For Answers

**September 27th**

**10:05 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**73:54:41**

It had only been less than 10 minutes since Andy, Tammy, and Ana went inside the fortune teller stand and things were already unsettling for them. It had not been too long since their encounter with some street toughs who tried to assault the trio, and just upon their arrival in the Palm Tree Beach area, the three had come across a Haitian man with a really weird vibe to them. From what it seemed, he also had the same abilities as Madame Poulet.

Andy continued to look around and called for Poulet's attention, as the place seemed like it was open when they entered. It was not long until he had a voice say, "Hello?" Just when he head the sound of a voice that was close by, Andy jumped a bit, like he was unsure what to expect.

"Madame Poulet?" Tammy said. "It's us from yesterday. Tammy and Andy, and we brought a friend along."

"Ah, yes, the young couple happily in love," the voice sounded like it was really close, like it was coming from up the stairs. Andy stood by the stairs with Tammy and Ana right behind him. "I'll be right down."

The trio stood there and awaited the arrival of the fortune teller as she walked down the stairs in a long dress and a similar type of headwear that she wore the previous day. "Hello, Andy and Tammy," and then looked over at Ana, "You must be their friend."

Ana stood there with a blank stare with no way to respond to that, except with, "Um, yeah, hello."

"Hi, we want to ask you something, you see…" Tammy wasted no time in cutting to the chase, only to be interrupted.

"No, do not tell me," Poulet stood there with her left hand right to her head. "You three are here because you just endured a bout with danger. You faced death square in the eye."

Andy and Tammy turned their heads towards each other and then turned them back to face Madame Poulet.

"I sensed that you had encountered the undead, as well as a bunch of street criminals."

Having heard that, Ana's jaw slowly dropped and her eyes slowly widened. It was as if Madame Poulet had seen everything that happened to them within the last four hours.

"We want to ask you something," Andy did not want to wait for anything else. "You were right about yesterday, and how did you know what was going to happen?"

"One must not tell how his or her power works," Madame Poulet responded. "But I will say that things will get worse from here on in. The undead have unearthed and it's only a matter of time until an evil force will come and try to destroy us all."

The trio stood there frozen stiff, like they did not know how to respond to that. It was only moments ago that they had heard something similar from that mysterious man outside. While Andy thought that something was mysterious about Paul earlier, this man had an even bigger mystery behind him. Who was he? Why was he standing outside the place? Does he have any connection with Madame Poulet? What was his motive? So many questions that he wanted to ask, but he had no idea where to start or if he should ask any of them at all. It was certain that he may have known a thing or two about the outbreak, though Andy wondered where that man came from when he talked about "the devil walking the earth."

"Listen, before we came in, we saw a man with long dreadlocks, he said something very similar to what you just told us," Andy said.

Just then, Madame Poulet looked up with a shocked look on her face. "Hush, young man, you must know that we try to see what is going on out there. I must not speak of that man. It's complicated between us. You would not understand, but what you shall understand is that all three of you are in grave danger, and there are a lot of living people out there who need help. You must find more of those people."

Andy took a deep breath after what he had just heard, while Tammy and Ana looked directly at him. "Okay, we should get you somewhere safe."

"No," Madame Poulet uttered her response a split second after Andy's suggestion.

"No?" Andy stood there confusedly.

"I have my own safety right here," Madame Poulet said. "I'll stay right here for now. I can take care of myself."

"Just one thing that I must say," Tammy said. "You should keep your doors locked in case any zombies come in. We'll try to come by soon in case if we need more answers."

Tammy did not want to leave this woman by herself, especially if that one man gave her a weird vibe. She was not sure what the deal with that man was, but something told her that they may know each other, but at what capacity is what she wondered. Though this was the second time she had met her, she was a bit concerned for her. Then again, even when she met Andy a couple of years prior, she displayed the same level of concern for him despite having only met him, but the reasoning was different at the time as she wondered why he carried her to the safe house, and then looked at her and stood in the same room as her for a good amount of time until they started to talk. But the more they talked, the more connected they got, and even she saw that there was more than what met the eye.

Madame Poulet looked right at Andy and gave him a signal to follow her. When Andy started walking, the girls started following him, until Madame said, "I just need to speak with Andy alone."

Tammy and Ana walked back into the lobby area while Andy followed Madame. They found a couch to sit on and sat there to wait for Andy to come back, but one thing ran through Ana's mind at that moment. In fact, it had been running through her mind for a bit longer than that.

"Hey, Tammy, being that it's just us girls here," Ana said. "I really want to ask you something. How did you and Andy meet?"

Tammy turned around to face Ana just having heard that. She knew that Ana had a history with Andy and that they dated when they were younger. However, it was not such a shock that she would ask that, considering how Tammy noticed how Ana acted at times. She noticed how she looked at Andy, and also how Andy was towards her, like maybe Ana was a bit jealous.

Tammy replied, "We met in Fortune City two years ago, during the outbreak."

"What?" Ana said so shockingly. "You two were in the Fortune City Outbreak?!"

"You heard that right," Tammy said. "I worked as a mermaid performer at a casino and on one of those nights; I was sitting on a clam in the middle of the casino. I had no way to walk, so I could not run away if I could, not to mention I could not take off my mermaid tail because I had no underwear on."

Just then, Ana started to chuckle, but had covered her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing. However, it brought to light that it had been a while since she had been back in her home state of Nevada, save for coming home during the holidays. With a job opportunity coming to her not long after graduating college, especially starting off as a computer whiz for the FBI; it just seemed that she had been away for a bit. However, Carson City was far away from Fortune City, and sure as hell was far away from Las Vegas, as that outbreak occurred the same year she and Andy graduated high school, and then went off to school in Miami that same year. It should also be of note that Tammy graduated from high school that same year, too.

Tammy continued, "At some point, this man named Chuck Greene walked in, and Andy followed him from a mall that was right next to the casino. I told that guy Chuck that I could not walk and he had suggested that he would carry me, but then Andy suddenly told him no and that he wanted to carry me. Chuck tried to insist, but then Andy handed Chuck a shotgun that he had, and then Andy approached me and then picked me up to carry me. I was able to see that Andy was attracted to me, but I also saw that he had gone through some stuff beforehand. We had a nice long chat when we were at the safe house. Andy told me that he had thought about killing himself because he could not handle the zombies and the killing anymore."

Ana sat there and turned her head a bit. "He thought about killing himself?" Ana was not that surprised, however. Maybe not unsurprised to the point that she did not doubt that Andy contemplated suicide, but she had seen that Andy had been emotional in her presence before. It was not much of a shock to her.

"I started to feel for him for some reason," Tammy said. "I don't know what it was, but I felt for him. Then at some point, he went back out into the outbreak to get me some clothes, especially some pants because I couldn't walk. A part of me speculated that he did that because a part of him still wanted to die. After the second time, he promised that he would not go back out there. And then we continued to talk after that. It's like we clicked, especially when there was nothing to do in the safe house."

"So you two met in the Fortune City Outbreak and the rest was history," Ana asked.

"Yes, we did," Tammy said. "Although it seemed like it was fate for both of us. As bad as the outbreak was, a great thing came out of it for both of us."

"Okay, there is one thing that I want to know," Ana said. "How did you get a job as a mermaid performer?"

"I was a model at the time, and someone saw my resume and thought I would be good to dress like a mermaid and sit on a clam," Tammy said.

Ana sat there in silence, wondering what she should say. This had been the first time she had a real conversation with Tammy. Though she had been in her presence and spoken to her, she did not actually talk to her for a long period of time.

She is really lucky to have Andy. I can see that those two really love each other.

"I have to say one more thing," Ana said. "Last night, I heard you say that when the zombie outbreak started, and I saw Andy carrying you, you said that it reminded you of how you first met. I finally put the pieces together."

Tammy sat there and chuckled a bit. "You know, you're not so bad."

Ana sat there and blushed a bit. She did not think that she would get friendly with Andy's current girlfriend, but it was a miracle that she did. Not that she thought that it would be hostile between the two, but it was hard for her to believe that she found herself getting along with Tammy, whom also didn't think that she would get along with Ana.

Meanwhile, Madame Poulet had Andy follow her to a room in the back.

"What's going on," Andy asked.

"I just want you to know something," Madame Poulet said. "I was able to see that you want to surprise your girlfriend with a special gift yesterday. That's why I didn't say anything else. But I will tell you one thing. You may have a problem later on. I won't say what it is, but just know that it has to do with your girlfriend, and no, it has nothing to do with that other girl, though I see that you have a place in her heart."

Andy stood there with no way of how to respond to do that. He was not shocked, as the moment those two had come face-to-face the previous day, there was no denying that Ana's old feelings for Andy had rekindled. "Can you tell me about that guy who we saw?"

"I shall not say," Madame Poulet said. "But you three shall leave now, but I will be here if you want more answers."

Andy nodded his head. He walked out of the area and into the lobby where he was shocked to see that not only Ana and Tammy were actually talking, but also getting along in the process. The girls then looked up and jumped at the sight of Andy standing right in front of them.

"Well, I didn't think that I'd see you two get along," Andy said to both of them.

"Oh, we were just talking, honey," Tammy said.

"Well, we should probably get going," Ana said. "I have not heard from anybody lately. I wonder if anything is going okay."

The trio exited the place and suddenly Ana's radio rang. "Hello, Paulson, are you there?"

"Hey, Torres," Paulson said. "I just want you to know that I found something on the feed, actually it's very close to where you are."

"What is it," Ana replied.

"It looks like there are some volleyball players on the beach," Paulson said. "They look they're ready to play in a match. It seems like an odd time to do this considering a zombie outbreak is going on."

"We'll get there," Ana said.

"What's going on?" Andy said.

"I was told that we have some people we may need to save on the beach," Ana said.

"Okay, let's go," Andy said.

"Hold up," Tammy interrupted. "You have not slept since we got here. I think you should go back to the safe house and get some sleep. You have done a lot. You really need some rest."

Tammy was right about she said. It seemed like any kind of sleep that Andy had was from the night before they had left for this trip, and he had slept some on the flight there. However, he had trouble sleeping the night before.

"Okay, I'll go back to the place," Andy said. "But I'm afraid of leaving you out here."

"Don't worry about her," Ana added. "She is with me. She'll be fine."

There was no denying the amount of concern that Andy had at that moment. He basically spent the whole night killing zombies, saving some people, as well as dealing with some psychopaths in the process. However, he was afraid of leaving his girl out there, though he had seen what she could do. He had faith in her.

Andy faced Tammy. "Just be careful out here, okay?"

"I will," Tammy said.

Andy then realized that he had no way to get there, but then looked around and saw a motorcycle there, with the key still in the ignition. He did not want to ask Ana to use her car to get back. Then another thing hit him.

"Ana, I don't have a way to get inside the yard," Andy said.

"Don't worry, there's another gate that you can get in through," Ana said. "It's not locked, and you don't have to worry about zombies getting through."

Andy nodded his head. He had to see for himself. He then approached the bike, and then turned his attention to the two ladies, particularly Tammy, and then mouthed to her, "Be careful." Tammy nodded her head back to him. Andy then remembered something. He walked up to Tammy and handed her his earpiece. "You'll need this," he said. He then approached the bike and then took off.

The two ladies looked at Andy as he took off to go get some rest. Ana looked at Tammy and said, "You are very lucky to have him."

"Oh, I know I am," Tammy said. "I am more than lucky, I'm blessed."

Andy rolled back to the safe house on the motorbike. He crossed the bridge onto the island and ran over some zombies in the process. It did not take that long to get to his destination and once he got back to the safe house, he saw a door on the wall that he used to get in, but then noticed that the gate had opened when he passed by.

_Someone must have set it up to have any car go through._ He thought to himself. Regardless, he went into the yard and then got off the bike and headed straight inside the house. He noticed some of the other survivors hanging around. Some were asleep, and some were doing their own thing, like Tomomi was seen practicing her karate moves. He headed straight for the bedroom that he and Tammy were in earlier and then dropped himself right onto the bed and then passed out right when that happened.

Despite being fully awake not long before, he was really tired after lacking the rest he needed, and now his girlfriend was out there in the middle of the outbreak. Only one person would know how she would fare in such a situation.

* * *

**September 27th**

**11:21 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**73:38:21**

It was now just the two ladies out there and the weather had started heating up as noon was getting closer. Being that they were in a tropical area, the warmth had been present since early in the morning. The two had approached the beach and noticed how big it was. There was a lot of room out there, and of course, the area was full of zombies. One thing that was noticeable about the zombies was that a lot of them looked like they were dressed in beachwear, like some female zombies were wearing bikinis and other swimsuits, while some male zombies were shirtless and wearing beach shorts.

"Man, how did all of this happen?" Tammy asked a rhetorical question. While she had been informed of how some of these people turned, it seemed like everything happened so fast. Walking on sand was not going to be easy, so she looked around to find a way to get around on the beach. "Hey, Ana, I found something."

"What's that," Ana asked. Tammy pointed to an all-terrain vehicle that would be useful to drive around on the beach. "Wow, let's go."

Tammy approached the ATV and got on with Ana right behind her. Tammy handed Ana the spiked bat that she was using. Tammy started the vehicle up and revved it up with Ana sitting behind her, and they were off. She drove around and ran over some zombies, while Ana held on tight so that she would not fall off. The ride even got bumpy at some points with some zombies having fallen from trying to walk on the sand. She tried to look around to see where the volleyball players were. The question on both girls' minds was how did they not see that zombies were present on the beach. She cruised around, until from a distance she saw that that there were bleachers set up with rails wrapped around the area, and also a volleyball court was set up.

"That's got to be the place," Tammy said. She got closer and noticed two girls in bikinis in the area. Once she got to the entrance area for people to pay to get in, where there were some tents set up as well, she and Ana got up from the ATV, and Ana handed Tammy the spiked bat. Tammy noticed that there was an entrance to the court, but a zombie who appeared to have been a security guard before stood there. Tammy whacked the zombie right in the head and it dropped on impact. The girls approached the athletes.

"I don't know what happened out here," one of the players said. "Was it cancelled and nobody told us?"

"I don't see our opponents anywhere," the other player said. "I mean I tried to see if any of the zombies could have been them, but I could not find anybody."

Tammy approached the two athletes. "Excuse me, ladies, but I don't think you will be having a match today. There are a lot of zombies out here."

"Whoa, what's the hurry?" one player said, who was wearing a visor and some shades.

"Wait, aren't you…?" Ana said.

"Yes, I am April Summer," she said, and pointed to her teammate, who was wearing a headband and sunglasses. "This is Holly Young. We were here for a tournament, but we didn't know anything about this."

"Maybe the tournament was canceled at the last minute," Tammy said. "I mean look all around you."

While zombies were present in that general area of Palm Tree Beach, it looked like nothing was going to take place as the seats in the stands were empty. Neither of the female athletes were sure how they didn't get the information in time. While the outbreak started the night before and it was likely that they were there ahead of time, they probably didn't check on any news reports of anything related to the zombies, despite it being the talk of the media. It had been more than 12 hours since it had started up to that point.

April then suggested something. "How about we play a set and then we'll follow you?"

Tammy and Ana looked at each other like they did not know how to respond to that. There was just no way that they would even win against these two women, with them being pros.

"I don't think so," Tammy said. She noticed a horde of zombies headed their way through the entrance area of the makeshift stadium where the event was supposed to be held and then noticed some zombies headed in the direction of the four ladies. Tammy saw a ball nearby and then picked it up. She then threw it up and then spiked it towards the horde of zombies, which then hit a few zombies in the head and knocked them out. It didn't hit all of the zombies, however, as Tammy rushed towards a couple of them with her spiked bat and then clocked the two in their heads. After she was done with that, she turned around and walked towards Ana and the two athletes, but suddenly, another zombie behind her, close in proximity, like it was ready to grab her. Ana did not waste time and picked up her pistol and shot the zombie right in its head.

Tammy then turned around and noticed how close the zombie was to her as she saw the body right on the sand. "Man that was a close one."

April and Holly looked on, as they noticed that this situation was no joke.

"Hey, where did you learn to spike a ball like that," Holly looked over at Tammy, like she was impressed with that spike she made.

"I played volleyball when I was in high school and played a little in college," Tammy said.

"Okay, now that I see what is going on," April said. "We'll follow you. Just take us somewhere safe."

The two professional volleyball players followed Ana and Tammy, whose transceiver had rung out of nowhere. Tammy answered.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hello, who is this?" Paulson said.

"Oh, I'm Tammy, I'm with Ana right now," she said. "I am Andy's girlfriend, what's up?"

"Oh, I remember now," Paulson said. "I want you two ladies to know that somewhere on that same beach; I saw what appeared to be a cop firing shots outside of a lifeguard tower."

Tammy did not know how to respond to that, but she wanted to go check it out anyway. She then remembered that she and Ana got to the area on an ATV, and there would be no way to have April and Holly ride along. Ana then took a glance nearby on the pavement that was close to the sand.

"Hey, Tammy," Ana said, who then pointed to a golf cart. "I found something else we could use."

"Perfect, let's go!" Tammy said, as the four women ran towards the vehicle.

Tammy took control of the driver seat with Ana in the passenger seat, while April and Holly sat in the back. Tammy started driving and then saw a man and a woman on top of a car with zombies surrounding it. Knowing that the vehicle was not going to go fast, Tammy hit the pedal as hard as she could to try to go faster as she rammed a few zombies in the process. She then hit the brakes, and then got out, with Ana following her as well. Tammy hit a few zombies with the spiked bat, some of which went down at once when she wacked one of them. Ana shot a few and then noticed that she was running low on her clip. She then got out an Uzi and started firing away as many zombies started to drop after being hit by the bullets. Blood sprayed everywhere, but then there were more zombies on the other side. Before Tammy and Ana could do anything, a ball went flying towards the horde with full force and knocked all of them down. Tammy and Ana then turned their attention and noticed that it was April who spiked the ball to knock all of them out.

"Wow," Ana said.

"Impressive, huh," April said. "Now, let's go."

"Thank you so much!" said the girl who was on top of the car.

"No problem," Tammy said. "We'll get you somewhere safe."

"Thanks, but we'll find our own safe place," the girl said, as she and her boyfriend ran off.

The four women then went back into the golf cart and took off to find the lifeguard tower where something strange happened to have been going on. As they drove along the road, Tammy saw to her left a lifeguard tower that may have been the place. She then crossed over onto the opposite lane and onto the grass and found an opening onto the beach.

"Do you think this is the place?" Tammy said.

"Let's find out," Ana said.

"You know what," Tammy said. "Stay here with April and Holly, just in case any zombies were to come by."

"Okay, I'll stay with them," Ana said.

Tammy got out of the cart and approached the tower and noticed what appeared to be an African-American man in his late-30s and was holding a gun. He was wearing a white collared shirt and navy shorts.

She approached the man, and said, "Excuse me, sir, what's going on here?"

"I'm trying to keep my beach clean from any zombies and freaks around here," the cop said.

"Well, we could get you to safety," Tammy said, who then noticed a man and a woman tied up inside the tower, but weren't gagged.

"What's safe around here, huh?" the man said who then pointed his gun at her. "For all I know, you might be a zombie yourself."

"Please, don't shoot," Tammy said. "I'm trying to help you here."

Tammy realized at that point that she was biting more than she can chew. It would have made more sense if Ana was the one to negotiate here, as she was a federal agent, but none of that mattered then. Sure, she had dealt with some gang members before, but she was able to see that there was something wrong with this man.

"You can't help me," the man said. "This place has gone to shit. Besides, you're interfering with police business." As the man holstered his gun and then got out a baton.

_Oh no, what did I get myself into?_ Tammy thought, as she got out her spiked bat. _But I'm not about to go down without a fight._

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: GREGORY GARNER**

Gregory rushed right towards Tammy ready to swing his baton, but she quickly moved out of the way. She swung the spiked bat right to his back, which punctured through his flesh a tad, but Gregory turned around and then swung his nightstick in a downward angle towards her, but she quickly ran out of the way. Gregory swung the baton towards her yet again, but this time it was met with the spiked bat, as she held it up to guard her from any other attacks.

She swung the spiked bat towards him, but he thought ahead as he used his baton to guard her attack, and then shoved her to the sandy ground. Considering she was smaller than this guy, who was rather muscular, she went down a little quickly. He holstered his baton and then got out his taser. Tammy lied on the ground while Gregory got ready to shock her. She then turned her body onto her stomach and crawled towards the ramp. However, Gregory got down towards her and then shocked Tammy at her right midsection.

"Ahhhh!" Tammy screamed at the impact of the shock. Gregory continued to try to shock her, but she continued to crawl and got onto the ramp. Right then, she kicked him right in the face. Gregory fell backwards and put his left hand right on his face as he felt a bit of pain from the kick. Right when she got onto the platform, Gregory got to his feet and then chased her. She then jumped the railing. Unfortunately, when she hit the ground, she fell face down, which then caused Gregory to go to where she was and he got out the handcuffs. One could only guess what he was about to do then. Tammy then thought fast, as she grabbed a handful of sand and threw it towards his face. Gregory screamed about as the sand stung his eyes. She then grabbed the man's taser and shocked him to make sure he won't move.

She then approached the tower and noticed a male lifeguard, who was wearing a white tank top and red shorts, and a female lifeguard, who was wearing a red one-piece swimsuit. She then untied the two lifeguards.

"Are you two okay?" Tammy said.

"Yes, we're fine," the male lifeguard said. "Our friend just snapped."

"He's your friend?" Tammy said.

"Yeah, but I guess this whole thing made him go crazy," the female lifeguard said. "I'm Pamela, by the way."

"And I'm Dave," said the male lifeguard, who then looked towards Gregory who was still lying on the sand. "He's not dead, is he?"

Tammy replied, "I don't think so. I only shocked him."

"I'll go to talk to him," Dave said. He approached Gregory, who happened to still be breathing at that point. "Hey, Greg, are you okay?"

Gregory then woke up and then saw Dave, Pamela, and Tammy standing over him. "Whoa, I don't know what came over me."

"You snapped and went crazy," Dave said. "You're back to normal now."

Gregory then looked towards Tammy and thanked him for what she did.

"Don't worry about it, I was just trying to defend myself," she said. "We should get you somewhere safe."

"Just tell us where to go," Gregory said, as he pointed towards a police SUV that was close by.

"Okay, there is a mansion that is a safe zone right when you get off the mainland and onto the island," Tammy said. "It's the first one on the right."

"Thanks, young lady," Gregory said as he was being helped towards the car by Dave and Pamela, who was carrying a lifeguard can to defend themselves against zombies should they come towards them. "If you want some help, just let me know."

Tammy saw as the three got to the police car, and noticed that Dave took the driver seat, as it seemed that Gregory was in no condition to drive. She then started walking towards the golf cart where the other three women were. Ana looked up and noticed that Tammy had some sand on her clothes.

"Whoa, what happened over there?" Ana said.

"I got into a scuffle," Tammy said. "But he is back to normal, I guess."

"I saw what was going on," Ana said. "It seemed like crazy shit."

"You don't know the half of it," Tammy said. "Let's go back to your car."

"Okay," Ana said.

April asked, "Wait, where are we going?"

"We are going to take you ladies somewhere safe," Ana said.

"Well, that's good," Holly said. "But we can help you if you need it. Just letting you know, we dealt with some zombies before we got to the area where we were going to compete."

"Well, if you want to stick around, you're more than welcome to help us out," Tammy said.

Just then, the transceiver rung but Ana picked up the call this time.

"Hello, this is Torres," Ana said.

"Ana, this is Simpson," he said. "You should try to get back here soon. I found some more of our agents, but we also need to talk about what that ZDC agent told you and what is going on."

"Okay, we're on our way back," Ana said. "Tammy, let's get going. We have to go back to base."

Tammy then drove the four women on the golf cart and it was not long until they found Ana's SUV. The four women got out of the golf cart and Ana went right to the driver seat, while Tammy sat in the front, and April and Holly sat in the back.

"Hey, aren't the ZDC agents supposed to scope out the area soon?" Tammy said.

"I think so," Ana said, as she looked at her watch. She noticed that it was almost 1 PM at that point. Not that the two ladies would be interfering in their business, but Agent Simpson needed to talk to Ana right then, and it was the right time. They had spent the entire morning out there, and it was now afternoon. What more could happen for the rest of the day?

As the quartet of women took off, the same man from before stood in the distance and watched as they drove away. He stood near the fortune teller place. What was the deal with that man? Andy wondered that, but Madame Poulet did not want to say anything. Only time will tell and the question will be answered.

**September 27th**

**12:57 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**71:02:42**


	9. What is Known So Far

**September 27th**

**1:09 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**70:50:12**

Ana and Tammy had arrived back to the mansion with the two scantily-clad volleyball players, April and Holly, whom were also some help to them while they were out there. Throughout the day, Tammy had to find a way to hold her own considering that she had joined Andy and Ana to find a couple of ZDC agents and then stumbled upon a gang of ruffians, and yes, zombies in the process.

Right when Ana parked her car in the driveway of the safe house, Tammy immediately exited the car, much to the confusion of the two athletes.

"Whoa, someone is in a hurry," April said as she saw that Tammy rushed right into the house. It did not take a lot for Ana to see why Tammy had to get out of the car so quickly at that moment.

Ana looked over at the two, "She is just going to check on her boyfriend."

"Oh, I see," Holly said.

The other three women got out of the car. Ana led the way for the two athletes to get inside the house.

"Hey," Ana called the attention to the two women, as she noticed that they were still in their bikinis. "If you want some clothes, there are some around this house that you can use."

April looked over at Ana, "Thanks, we'll keep that in mind."

Tammy walked right up to the bedroom where she slept earlier. Right when she opened the door, what she saw right before her was the sight of Andy lying on the bed sleeping. She walked right up to the bed and sat down and looked right at him.

You must have been so tired, you really needed it. She thought to herself as she looked at Andy. You would have been so proud of me out there.

Meanwhile, Ana approached Simpson, who was sitting in what appeared to be his office. It was clear that there was one thing that she needed to talk to him about.

"Hey, Ana," Agent Simpson said the moment he saw Ana walk up to him. "So tell me what happened out there. What did you find out?"

Ana stood before him and looked directly in the eye, as she was not about to hold back. "We had gone through hell out there. We were ambushed by some gang members and nearly assaulted by them. Right after that, I talked to the two ZDC agents."

"Wait, gang members?" Simpson was rather flabbergasted by having heard that.

"You heard right," Ana said. Ana looked at Simpson confusedly, like she wondered why her superior officer was shocked about this. Could it be because some other people were still alive and assaulting some other living people? It would also be of shock that they were not even trying to keep themselves safe and what they were doing there to begin with was the question on Ana's mind.

Simpson replied, "I don't know what to tell you about that, but…"

"You don't have to say it," Ana interrupted. "We dealt with them, but I don't think it will be the last we will have to deal with them."

Simpson sat there in silence with a touch of unease in his system. The man was a fed, but that his apprentice was dealing with the undead and some criminals on the vicinity, this turned out to be more than the case that he and Ana were working on already. Then something hit Ana at that moment.

"Hey, Simpson, this just sprung to mind," Ana said. "Do you think that there might be a connection?"

"What do you mean?" Simpson replied.

"I mean do you think Mendoza had anything to do with the outbreak," Ana said.

"What? Why do you think that?" Simpson said. "We don't know where he is, all we know is information from an informant that he is on the run, but he could be anywhere."

Though Simpson had a valid point, Ana sensed that something was not right when she went out there earlier. Sure, it could have been any gang, but she came up with a theory that maybe the gang had some connection. She had read up on how Mendoza's cartel had a partnership and an alliance with the Caribbean Boyz. She was not sure if Mendoza was back in the country, let alone in Palm Tree City, or anywhere in Florida for that matter, but she had a strong feeling that he may have had a connection in the outbreak. But at the moment, nothing could be confirmed or proved at all. Add to the fact that this was just an idea that Ana threw out there, so she could be wrong about it.

"Anyway, I must tell you that when we came across the ZDC agents," Ana said. "The older agent, Park, I believe, he didn't know anything about the gang members. Also, he had noted that someone had given him the wrong time, which was why he was there early in the morning."

"That sounds kind of off, though," Simpson said. "Anything else he said?"

"He said he might come by to talk to us about the investigations out there," Ana said.

Meanwhile, Tammy lied on the bed with Andy right beside her. She was not asleep, but she was a little exhausted about what she had gone through. She stared up at the ceiling deep in thought about this whole vacation.

I really don't know what to think about this, except that I did not expect to be in the middle of a zombie outbreak. I did not even think that I would find myself fighting zombies, too, but I actually did it. It really is not so bad, but I also look at my Andy and I hope that he does not regress back into the man he was when we first met. However, from what I saw, it seems like he is a lot more at ease, but I know him. There is a side of me that thinks that he is putting up a front. I just hope that we all get out of here alive.

Tammy then ascended from the bed and then approached the bedroom door and then cracked the door open a tad, only to see that the two ZDC agents had arrived.

Oh shit, he's here! She thought, and it was only about one of the two agents that she had encountered earlier: One person who she never wanted to see or speak to again, and that was Simon, her ex-boyfriend. She looked through the crack of the door and Agent Simpson approached Brad and Simon.

_How in the hell did HE get a job as a ZDC agent?_ She thought. It was clear that she had no positive things to say about him. All she knew was that he got shipped off to the military after he screwed up his life. She had not been in any sort of contact with him at all. For all she knew, he could have changed his act up, but there was a side of her that knew him well. Sure, some people change, but I just can't see that with him.

Through the crack, she saw Agent Simpson and Ana leading the two ZDC agents somewhere else. She then exited the bedroom so that she can go and get herself something to drink. She had to make sure that everyone was out of her sight, and right when they disappeared, she made her exit out of the room. She made a break for the kitchen area. She walked down the stairs and then found a hallway that led into the kitchen. She got in there and then walked towards the cupboards and picked out a glass and then went right for the refrigerator and tried to look for something to drink. There was a lot to choose from, but she made a choice and found some orange juice. She took out the jug of OJ and poured it into the glass, and then put the container back in the fridge. Right when she closed the door, she noticed someone standing there, and then she jumped and then let out an "Ah!" at the sight of someone who stood right there when the person was not there before. She looked over at the person and said in a very unenthused tone, "Hello, Simon."

"Tammy, what an amazing surprise to see you out here," Simon said. "How long has it been?"

"What does that matter?" Tammy said as she glowered at him. No matter long it had been since they had spoken or been in each other's presence, she did not forget about what he had put her through.

"Oh, come on, I can tell you're not happy to see me, after everything we've been through," Simon said. "But it's all in the past, okay? I'm a different person now. I am actually doing something good for once. The Navy changed me."

Tammy's eyes squinted a tad, while her mouth straightening a bit, and her right shoulder backed up a bit. There was level of unease in her system, but in some ways, she felt that maybe she could give him the benefit of the doubt. She was only 23, and he was only 24. They had not seen each other since they were teens. Who knows what kind of person Simon is now? However, Tammy was not sure if she should buy what he said.

Out of nowhere, Ana happened to have been walking through the hallway and then took a peek in the kitchen. Right when she passed by, she backed up a bit and then looked at Tammy and Simon talking to each other.

"Tammy, is everything okay," Ana asked.

Simon then turned his attention towards Ana, and then his eyes shifted up and down her body twice and smiled a bit.

Tammy replied, "Things are okay, Ana." And then took a glance at Simon, "I think."

Ana looked towards Tammy, "How do you and Agent Gates know each other?"

Simon interrupted, "Please, call me Simon."

"Okay, how do you and _Simon_ know each other?" It was clear that the tone Ana used when she enunciated his name that she didn't think too highly of him, as she noticed the way he looked at her.

"We dated in the past," Tammy said.

Ana's eyes got a little bigger. "Really? That's funny. First I reunite with Andy, and now you reunite with Simon. This is just really funny."

Simon then turned his attention towards Tammy, who took a swig of her glass of OJ. "Who is Andy?"

Tammy retorted, "My boyfriend."

Simon put his left hand against the kitchen counter. "That blonde guy who I saw you with earlier is your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Tammy replied.

"Well…," Simon slanted his head to his right. "Your boyfriend definitely has good taste, he has you." And then looked over at Ana and raised his eyebrows twice. "And he had her, too."

In a situation like this, one would have thought Ana would have felt some flattery, but it was not the case, as she felt slight disgust over the way Simon was looking at her, and noticed the way he looked at Tammy. Ana had only met her the previous day, but even she was able to sense that Tammy was a bit uncomfortable to be in the presence of this guy. She saw that Tammy was more at ease when she was with Andy, even though there was a bit of concern for him after what happened earlier. Despite that, though, Ana probably had to trust him on a professional level if they were going to work together, even though she thought otherwise.

"Look, Simon," Tammy addressed him in a mildly condescending tone. "What you and I had is all in the past. I will never get back with you, especially after what we've been through. I am in love with Andy, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, damn, woman!" Simon raised his hands up in the air and backed up a tad. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. You can have that guy. I don't give a fuck about what we've been through. That shit's all in the past."

Ana stood there as she watched those two talk, but just then, she thought of something. "Hey, shouldn't you go back to your partner? I think he needs you right now."

Simon looked at his watch, "Damn, I should go. I'll see you around, Tammy." He then walked out of the kitchen.

Tammy then looked at Ana. "It took you long enough to tell him that his partner needs him."

"He doesn't," Ana replied. "I told him that to get him out of here."

Tammy's eyes lit up a bit when she heard her say that. "Thank you so much. Did you see the way he looked at you?"

Ana scoffed, "I don't know the guy, but for some reason, I don't trust him. I saw the way he looked at you, too. Imagine if Andy was here right now."

Tammy knew where Ana came from with that remark, but for some reason, she wondered what would or could have happened if the man she loved was in her presence when that happened. She knew that Andy would do anything for her, but she also feared what would happen if he had tried to confront Simon, as she remembered the stuff that Simon had done in the past. However, she needed to see that maybe, just maybe Simon might actually be over her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Agent Simpson had been talking to Brad Park about the issue.

"All we have so far is some images and video of what have led to this outbreak," Simpson said. "We might have to work together on this, and maybe try to infiltrate that lab camp over near the swamp."

"This sounds like some heavy shit," Brad said. "Look, we'll keep in touch. Gates and I will scope out various areas of the city. I may have to check with my superior to see if we can work together. We will have to investigate that camp sooner or later. Do you think we should talk to the guy who got all these visuals?"

"He is very iffy about talking to anybody, but he provided us the information," Simpson said.

While Brad stood there, he looked behind his shoulder and there came Simon. "Where were you?"

"Sorry, I needed to go to the bathroom," Simon said.

Simpson added, "You know, I will have to check on that guy to see what he may have to say." He walked out of his office to go look for Paul, who last he remembered was in a room upstairs. Simpson walked towards one of the staircases and went to find the room he was in, and then knocked on the door. On the other side of the door, Paul sat on a couch with his laptop on his lap and looked at various news sites to see if he had found any reports about the outbreak. One headline stood out to him.

Palm Tree City may be in a serious outbreak.

Another thing that had stood out to him was that some familiar photos appeared in the news article online. The still image was from none other than him, as he had also shot some photos of some zombies before he had gotten to the diner. However, he mainly shared the images and videos of the camp with the feds as there was no evidence for the news to use that those people were involving in the zombie outbreak. That does not mean that he won't provide them with the pictures, however.

The knocking continued, and then Paul looked up and approached the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Agent Bruce Simpson of the FBI," Simpson said. "I want you to come down and talk to us."

"We already talked," Paul said.

"It is with some other people," Simpson said. "You are our primary source for all of this."

"And who are these people?" Paul said.

"They are the Zombie Defense and Control," Simpson said. "They are here to investigate what is going on."

"Oh, is that so? And why aren't you guys doing any of this?" Paul derisively replied. "Isn't it also your job to check on what is going on?"

"This sort of thing is something we have not dealt with before," Simpson said. "We are working on this, even though we were not assigned to this. We got involved and we're still involved. As far as you're concerned, this is all you need to know."

"Maybe you and that young agent should go look at it then," Paul said.

"Yes, we should…," Simpson said. "Except we don't know where it is," Simpson exhaled and breathed after pausing. "But you do."

"Wait, you want me to take you and your partner over there?" Paul said.

"Right, but you need to show us some things, like maybe some other evidence about the zombies, or even those wasps that you told us about," Simpson said.

"Okay, I will lead you to the place," Paul said. "But we must not go any further as that camp is heavily guarded."

"We'll figure it out on the way," Simpson said. "Let's get going."

Simpson and Paul exited the room, while Brad and Simon stood at the bottom of the stairs. As they got closer to the two ZDC agents, Simpson looked at the two with something to say. "This is the man who shot the images that we saw. He is going to show me the area where all this stuff is going down." Simpson saw Ana walk up from another area. "Hey, Ana, I'm going to need you to come with us."

Ana replied, "Why? What's going on?"

"We need to find some things about the area where Paul shot those pictures and videos," Simpson said. "We need to see for ourselves."

"Okay, I'll go," Ana said.

Simpson looked towards Brad, "Hey, we'll talk more about this later. I may need to talk to your superior about this. Keep in touch, okay?"

"You got it," Brad said, and looked towards Simon. "Come on; let's go take care of some stuff."

Out of nowhere, Tammy walked out and noticed that the ZDC agents were leaving, along Simpson, Ana, and Paul. "Hey, what's going on here?"

"We need to check something out," Simpson said. "We'll be back later."

Ana then walked up to Tammy, and then told her that she needed to talk to her in private, and looked towards Simpson to give him a signal that she needed to step out for a bit. "Listen, I need to help out Agent Simpson and that man to look for some evidence about the wasps and the zombies. In the meantime, I think maybe you and Andy, when he wakes up, anyway, to look for some more people out there, and if you find something suspicious, like maybe it could be related to the outbreak, let us know, okay?"

Tammy nodded her head. "You got it. I'll handle some things right now."

Ana smirked at her and gave her thumbs up. It had only been a day since the two had met, but it would almost seem that she liked Tammy and could trust her. Tammy felt the same way, especially since they were working together on this whole thing.

Ana walked back towards her crew, as she was about to embark on a mission that would be considered risky, but after the things that she had gone through throughout the day and the night before, a mission to a research camp would be less risky than dealing with ruffians or zombies, wouldn't it?

"Wait, I may need to go out there at some point," Tammy interrupted as everyone was about to leave.

Simpson called her attention and pointed to a table that was near her. "There are the keys to the van right there."

Tammy turned her attention to said table and noticed the car keys. There was just no way that she was about to spend the rest of the day in the mansion, despite it being safer than being out there. But the fact that she found herself in this mess, she wanted to help out. She picked up the keys and headed towards the van and noticed inside that the shotgun that Andy used earlier was on the front passenger's seat, and she also saw that an axe that Andy presumably used was on the floor. She opened the door and picked up the two items and took them inside.

She found the workshop room in the house that had a workbench. Right before she entered the workshop, she took off her denim jacket as she knew that things were going to heat up in there. She had remembered a movie that she watched with Andy sometime before and put the shotgun on the bench and used a vise to hold it down. She then picked up a saw and sawed the butt and then broke it off. She then picked up a roll of duct tape and also the axe. She put the sharp end of the axe right where the butt of the shotgun used to be and then taped the axe to the weapon. She then noticed a knife sharpener and turned it on. She put on a welding helmet and then took the shotgun axe to the sharpener. Sparks started flying as she was sharpening the axe end. She then noticed something else that would be useful: a lawnmower. She picked it up and then found a blowtorch to take off everything around it, like the wheels, the handle and some of the corners. All that mattered to her was the motor and the blade. She noticed that there was something on the mower that she could grip her hand on. It almost looked like she was carrying a shield. She looked at what the work she had done and smiled.

_I can't believe I did this. I do have a crafty side to me, after all._ She then cocked her shotgun axe. _Time to kick some zombie ass._

She walked out of there and into the main area of the house carrying her weapons. Some of the survivors who were present, such as Marcus, Tomomi, Holly, and April looked at her with confusion and awe.

"Hey, I'm about to go out to kill some zombies and see if there are any living people out there," she said. "Anybody want to join me?"

**September 27th**

**2:00 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**69:59:49**

**THE NEXT CASE WILL OCCUR AT**

**6:00 PM**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though crafting weapons had become a thing in Dead Rising 2, the part when Tammy was crafting her weapon was actually a recreation of a scene from the movie "Hobo With a Shotgun." Also, in a lot of ways, Molly Dunsworth, who was in that movie, looks similar to the character model of Tammy, if she had red hair anyway.


	10. The Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ana, Paul, and Agent Simpson all go to scope out the camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ana had been playing a big role in this story, so I thought about making this one centered on her.

**September 27th**

**2:25 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**69:34:43**

It was only about 2 in the afternoon and this day had not been easy for Ana or for Agent Simpson for that matter. As hours had progressed, a lot of zombies had crowded the streets of Palm Tree City. It was only a matter of time until the other districts of the city would be infested, or worse, having the outbreak go into other neighboring cities in Florida. It had not even been a full 24 hours since the outbreak had started.

Ana joined her superior Agent Bruce Simpson, along with Paul Williams, the Australian man who had gotten some information the previous day about the camp that was close to the cabin he lived in. The question on everyone's minds was what were those people doing out in the Everglades. However, other questions sprung to their minds like who those people were involved with and what their plans were overall.

They took a ride outside of the city to go to where Paul's cabin was. Being that Paul lived out there, it was best that he drove the two FBI agents out there to where he lived, because he was only the person of the three who knew where to go.

It was made clear that it was the city itself that was being quarantined, as various military vehicles were blocking freeway entrances, but Paul found another way around, as he took advantage of another opening.

"Mr. Williams, are you sure you know where you're going?"

Paul looked straight ahead, but responded, "I know this area like the back of my hand."

He found an entrance that was closer as the area they got off on would lead them to a countryside area, which was adjacent to where Paul's house was.

Once they got out of the city, it seemed like things were normal as there were no zombies to be found. Ana looked around and it seemed cleaner than Palm Tree City was. She turned her head towards Simpson with something on her mind.

"I think I have an idea what may have happened," Ana said.

"What do you have in mind?" Simpson said.

"Something tells me that someone started the outbreak by bringing in some of those wasps," Ana said. "The question in my mind is who and who are they working for."

"We'll find out soon," Simpson said.

It wasn't long before they got to where they needed to go. It was no secret that it was best for Paul to drive, as he lived out in the middle of the Everglades, in the middle of nowhere to be exact, but he was the only one who knew the area. Ana got out of the car and looked around and noticed how everything around was so dirty, wet, and green. It was clear that the southern parts of Florida were close to the swamps and a lot of the water resources come from the ocean, as a lot of parts of Florida are coastal and close to beaches. But what was puzzling to Ana was that the area she was in seemed desolate. She had maybe gone into a swampy area a few times, but this area seemed rather remote.

Ana said, "Paul, may I ask you something?"

"Sure, love," Paul said.

"Why do you live out in these parts?"

Paul responded, "I moved out into this area to get away from it all. I got tired of living the city life. I like it out here." Paul looked for a path to get to where they needed to go. He only parked their car a bit far away from his cabin, as the idea he had was that if any of those people saw them, it is possible that they would be shot or something to that effect.

Simpson got out a case and told the two that they needed to get going. All three people walked down a path to get the area of the camp. With Paul leading the way, he had a lot of knowledge of this area. Only he was the one who knew the area, as he seemingly lived there for a long period of time. As they hiked to the cabin, the trio noticed that a handful of zombies were walking around the vicinity. There was a good idea on each of their minds why there were zombies present, but not a huge group of them like they saw in the city. The zombies approached the trio, but Ana and Simpson got out their pistols and shot them as they got closer to them.

It was not long until they got to Paul's cabin, as it was right by the swamp. Ana noticed that a lot of the wasps were swarming over the water, and noticed some irregular behavior from an alligator, as it likely got stung by one of the wasps. The features of the reptile seemed like it was decayed. No one said that animals could not turn into zombies themselves.

The cabin was located right across the lake from the camp. It was at quite a distance, so Simpson had unloaded the case he brought and started putting together a rifle. He asked Paul if he knows to use a sniper rifle.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ana interrupted Simpson, with a confused look on her face.

"I'm about to go check out this place," Simpson said. "You two will cover me."

"No, I'll go check it out," Ana said.

"What? Don't take this the wrong way, but you're still a little green," Simpson replied.

"I know, but I want to see this for myself," Ana insisted. "Besides, I am smaller, and I will be sure to sneak past a lot of the security. I will look for some clues. You two should cover me."

As much as Simpson wanted to trust his partner, he was right that she was inexperienced. Simpson had already been a decorated agent, while Ana had only been working the field for six months up to that point. With so much skepticism under his belt, he reluctantly agreed to let her go and check out the camp herself.

"Look, I will cover you," Simpson said. "I cannot let anything bad happen to you. But you're on your own out there. If anyone tries to kill you, I will act fast."

Ana nodded, "Don't worry, I will be fine."

She then took off, while Simpson and Paul stayed behind at the cabin. As much as Simpson respected Ana as an agent, he felt that this was too soon for her to embark on such a mission, but nonetheless, he had to keep his eye on her, as he looked right through the scope of the rifle at all times. Paul sat next to him with binoculars in case Simpson needed support. More often than not, snipers work in pairs, and in this case, Simpson needed all the support he could get.

_Man, why did I volunteer to do this?_ The one thing on Ana's mind in that moment while she had her body pressed behind a truck was that she volunteered to sneak around the base to find clues. She was not close to being an experienced agent like her partner was, as this was quite a dangerous mission she found herself in. Sure, she had endured numerous zombies, as well as vicious gang members prior to this, but if she gets caught, the mercenaries will shoot her, no questions asked. She peeked over to make sure that no one was scoping the area she was in, and right then she made quick break to a tree that was nearby. As soon she hid behind the tree, she took a deep breath. She took a look out from the left side of the tree and noticed a strange-looking machine at the center that was adjacent to the lake. She quickly got out her phone and took a picture of the machine.

_I have to find a disguise._ She looked around and noticed on a nearby crate that there was a jacket and a hat that was similar to what the mercenaries were wearing. She quickly grabbed the jacket and hat and put them on. She then got out her phone to shoot a picture of the insignia on the truck, which said "Phenotrans." She then walked around and shot another picture of the lake with the bees swarming over the water. She walked around and noticed that the guards were wielding some assault rifles. She remembered that where she found the jacket and hat, there was also an assault rifle lying around, so she quickly went back to that area and picked it up. She then let out another breath.

As confident as she was to be on this mission, she still displayed a level of fear deep down. She had to maintain composure, or else her cover will be blown, and if that happens, not only is the mission a failure, but she will also be dead. Out of the corner of her right eye, what was seen were two scientists being escorted into a trailer by a mercenary. She then went up to the man and the two scientists. Before she got any further, she got out her phone and set the camera to video and tucked it into her waistband with the camera rolling. She followed the mercenary and the scientists into the portable building.

From the other side, Simpson kept his eye on the scope and noticed Ana getting inside the portable building. "Shit, I can't see her now."

Paul looked with his binoculars. "She looks like she is standing by the door." He then glanced at the scientists talking with what appeared to be a mean-looking boss. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Back in the portable building, Ana had the camera rolling with her phone set around the area of her stomach at the waistband of her pants. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, she stood near the door.

Relax, Ana, you're doing fine. She thought.

The two scientists stood before a man whose back was turned towards them, a man who wanted to see them.

"You wanted to see us, Mr. Walters?" said one of the scientists.

"Yes, I wanted to see both of you," the man said, as he turned around to face them. This man wore a suit and sunglasses, and had a scar on his right cheek. "Professor Edwards and Professor Logan, it has been brought to my attention that you two are starting to have second thoughts about being a part of this operation."

Mr. Walters lit a cigarette and took a puff and blew out the smoke. "Someone has told me that you guys don't want to do this anymore, and that maybe you wanted to blow the whistle."

"What are you talking about?" Edwards said, while Logan stood by and said nothing.

"You see, I know that you guys don't like the idea of causing a lot of deaths out there, in order for us to save lives," Walters said. "Don't you remember that we need to harvest a lot of queens to make Zombrex? I mean we are already making a killing on Palm Tree City. It's only a matter of time until our sales go up. How do you think Ms. Mallon would feel about the sales going down, especially because a couple of our scientists decided to blow the whistle?"

_"Killing on Palm Tree City," you got that right._ Ana thought to herself.

The two scientists stood there frozen stiff, but only one would break from the stiffness.

"You know damn well that Ms. Mallon does not tolerate failure," Walters said. "She told us to make sure that everything goes according to plan, especially with unleashing the king bees."

"Oh, cut the bullshit, Walters!" Edwards yelled. "You think this is about us going soft and not giving a shit about the infected? I heard some stuff about you making a deal with a special client, stating that we made a deal with him to start the outbreak in Palm Tree City, and from what I heard, he is a wanted criminal, who approached us to start the outbreak in exchange for getting his father out of prison! I heard about your plans. I mean I know what we do is shady, but to work with a criminal like that is a whole new low, even for an asshole like you!"

Ana's mouth opened slightly having heard that statement. _Getting his father out of prison? Special client? Who could it be?_

Logan turned to Edwards and muttered under his breath, "What the fuck are you doing? You'll get us killed."

Edwards said under his breath, "We're already dead, but I'm just getting this off my chest." Edwards then passed what looked like a flash drive to Logan, and he put it in his pocket. Ana took a close look at that.

Walters looked at Edwards, but rather than be angry with him, he smiled a bit. "You know, you're good, you think you know some shit, don't you? But really, you don't know shit at all. In fact, none of this will get out."

Walters approached Edwards and looked directly at him, enough that he lost focus on Logan, who slowly started to back away a bit, while Ana looked right at him. The mercenary got out his pistol and aimed it right at his head. "Want this done fast, boss?"

Logan was already close to the door where Ana stood. He turned around to make sure that no attention was on him.

Walters shook his head, "No, I have an even better idea." Walters approached his desk and picked up a jar with what looked like a larva inside. He opened the jar and gripped the larva. The mercenary held Edwards down by his arms, as Walters approached the defenseless scientist. "Open your mouth wide, NOW!"

Edwards shook his head with sweat running down his head. His mouth slowly opened, which gave Walters the opportunity to shove the larva right into Edwards's mouth. The larva crawled right down his throat after he had swallowed it. At that moment, Edwards started to tremble, from his head to the rest of his body; he shook and then vomited blood, as veins started to pop out of his skin and his eyes glazed. Ana and Logan stood there, with sweat running down their bodies and trembling at the sight of what just happened. Ana put her right hand to her mouth as she was ready to throw up at that horrific sight. Right then and there, both Ana and Professor Logan opened the door to get out of there, and Ana vomited at what she just saw. It was only at that moment when Walters realized that Logan made an escape as he saw that the door was open. The moment Ana walked out the door, she picked up her phone and pushed stop on the video recording.

"Go find him and kill him, Tyler!" Walters said to the mercenary.

Logan ran as fast as he could, with Ana right behind him. As she ran, her hat had come off, at which point Walters and Tyler noticed that Ana had blown her cover.

"Wait, who is that girl? I've never seen her before," Tyler said, as soon as he got out his gun, a gunshot came his way, but barely missed. The bullet had come from the other side, as Simpson had made his move. "Boss, we have a sniper on our hands."

"Fuck!" Walters yelled. "We'll find those two later."

Logan continued to run, with Ana right behind him.

"Sir, stop, I'm not one of them, I just want to talk to you!" Ana pounced onto the scientist and leaned over to his ear. "Listen, I'm an FBI agent. I'm trying to figure this stuff out. I saw your friend give you a flash drive. If you come with me, I will keep you safe and you can tell us what is going on."

Logan nodded. "Let's go."

Ana and Professor Logan ran back to the area where Simpson and Paul were. More mercenaries came out to try to shoot Ana and the scientist, but each of them were gunned down at the hands of Simpson and his trusty rifle. He then saw a zombie wearing a lab coat getting out of the trailer, and Simpson shot it, too. The two did not stop running until they got to safety. Ana was dying to tell Simpson about what just happened.

"I got some information, and I got some stuff on video, too," Ana said.

"Wait, you got video? Great, we'll have to look at it when we get back to base," Simpson looked at the scientist. "Who is this?"

"I'm Professor Aaron Logan, I just saw my best friend turn into a zombie at the hands of our boss," Logan said. "My friend gave me a flash drive that he stole. It contains a lot of information that may be linked to the outbreak of Palm Tree City, and more that may come, unless we stop them."

Simpson looked at him and then looked at Ana and Paul. What this man said could be a ticket for them to get some questions answered.

"Let's get out of here," Simpson said, and looked at Paul. "You're driving again."

"Right, mate."

All four people got out of dodge and headed for the vehicle that they got there in. Ana looked behind her to make sure that they weren't being followed, but from a distance, some people looked to be going towards their direction. Paul went right into driver's seat with Agent Simpson riding shotgun. Ana and Professor Logan entered the backseat. There was no time to waste as Paul started the ignition and as soon as everyone had fastened their seatbelts, he put the vehicle into drive and they were off.

"Man, that was close," Simpson said.

"Tell me about it," Ana said. "I will show you guys everything later after we get back. I think I need to lie down for a bit when we get there."

Professor Logan sat in his seat and looked directly at the floor. Ana turned her attention towards him and noticed a look of sadness on the scientist's face, as a tear slowly ran down his face.

"Professor, what's wrong?" Ana said.

"I just saw my best friend turn into a zombie right before my eyes," he said, and then got out the thumb drive that he was given. "I will make sure that those Phenotrans assholes will pay."

Ana then turned her head forward and sat there in silence. She felt the pain that Professor Logan was going through. She saw that Professor Edwards had guts in trying to confront what appeared to be the head of the operation. The one thing was on her mind was that the late scientist had mentioned about a special client that Phenotrans was helping out. Who could it be? Could it be who she thinks it is?

_Am I right? Could it be Mendoza? What would he have to gain in order to start an outbreak in the city? What's his endgame?_

So many questions were on her mind that she was determined to have answered soon enough.

**September 27th**

**3:32 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**68:27:13**

**NEXT CASE WILL OCCUR AT**

**6:00 PM**


	11. Race Against Time

**September 27th**

**4:01 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**67:58:49**

In one of the bedrooms at the mansion that was used as the safe house for any survivors who were rescued, Andy lied in bed in a fetal position. He had spent the whole night finding survivors, killing zombies, and also coming across a man who appeared to have lost his grip on reality that he had kidnapped a female martial artist and took her hostage. Nobody knew what was going to happen to her, at least not until Andy stepped in to see what went on.

He did not bother to rest after his one and only had woken up and joined him and Ana to go check out something suspicious that was seen on the video feed, and then came when he and the ladies encountered a street gang. He had done a lot that Tammy had suggested that he go get some sleep before anything else had happened. What was supposed to be a romantic getaway for him and the girl of his dreams, it turned into a nightmare.

As he lied in bed, he started to move a bit. He started having a dream, where he was sitting on a boat right near a shore with a fishing rod. From underwater a mermaid was swimming towards the surface. The mermaid had red hair, and she looked just like Tammy. She looked very similar to the same girl who was trapped in the Atlantica Casino two years prior, though she appeared to be a much more real mermaid in this dream. She got to the surface and noticed Andy on the boat. Andy felt that something was looking right at him and then turned around to look at the water and saw that a beautiful mermaid was gazing upon him. A smile started to grow on Andy's face as mermaid Tammy smiled at him and gave him a "come here" hand signal. He moved forward and got on the deck of the boat and then dropped right into the water.

The two were underwater and Tammy wrapped her arms around Andy and leaned forward. Andy closed his eyes as Tammy got closer to kiss him. Andy's eyes then opened, and then opened a little wider as the mermaid Tammy's eyes looked glowed and her skin looked rather decayed. Blood slowly dripped out of her mouth and it absorbed in the water. She then leaned in again with her mouth open this time aiming for his neck.

Andy then opened his eyes once again and then noticed he was in the bedroom. He took a deep breath and realized that it was a nightmare that he had, another nightmare that he had which involved Tammy turning into a zombie to be exact. He may have had nightmares that involved zombies before, but the one that stuck out to him was the one he had of his and Tammy's wedding day. And now he had a nightmare of Tammy as a mermaid, who then turned into a zombie. Could this be a sign to him? He could probably guess the reason that Tammy was a mermaid in this dream was because she was a mermaid performer when he had met her, and in this dream she was a real mermaid. But the fact that she turned into a zombie in both dreams must be some sort of sign to him. Whatever it was, he was determined that he won't let that happen.

He got up and then approached to the door to the room and noticed that Ana barely arrived, along with Agent Simpson, Paul, and a scientist who looked unfamiliar to him. With Ana coming in with the people she was with, it dawned on him that Tammy was not with her, which made him wonder where she was. He then ran down the stairs to come up to Ana.

The moment Andy approached Ana, the only thing that was on his mind was, "Hey, where's Tammy?"

Ana then looked Andy in the eye. "I think she's out there looking for some people."

A look of concern grew on Andy's face, as he did not want to think that something terrible could happen to Tammy. The nightmare he just had was similar to the one he had a couple of weeks ago.

_Oh no, what if she gets bitten, or worse?_ I must find her! He thought. He had skepticism before when she decided to stay out there with Ana to look for people or for any other things in the outbreak. However, the fact that she was out there on her own this time made the skepticism raise even higher.

"I'm going out there, I don't know why she didn't tell me that she would be doing this," Andy said as he approached the door, but Ana stopped before he could leave.

"Look, I am sure she probably told you, and I am sure she is fine," Ana said.

"You don't get it, I feel that there is a chance that some bad shit will happen to her," Andy said.

"Okay, you go out there, but be careful, okay?" Ana said. There was no doubt that Andy's anxiety would lead to something bad, so she tried to calm him down. "Both of you come back, okay? I am sure that she is fine."

Andy took a deep breath. "Okay, I will find her." He went back up to the room and picked up his cellphone and noticed that it said "One new message" and it was from Tammy. He opened his inbox.

_Andy, just letting you know, I am out and about right now. I didn't want to wake you up and I didn't want to worry you. I have some help with me. I will be back soon. XOXO_

Despite Tammy having backup with her, Andy was not about to sit back and wait for her. No, he would not do that. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. He put his phone in his pocket and then went to one of the rooms that had tools and picked up a baseball bat. There was no time to waste as he just took the bat as it was, and then raced to get outside and then straddled the motorbike he took earlier. From a distance stood Ana as she saw that he just took off without warning. She may have calmed him down a bit, but Andy was not going to stay and wait for Tammy to come back, because for he all knows, she probably wouldn't come back at all.

Before he started up the bike, he decided to shoot her a message.

_Hey, baby. I'm awake. Where are you?_

Ana approached him once again. "Hey, I'm going to need for you two to come back at around 6. There are some things that I found earlier that you may need to see."

"We'll be back before then," Andy said as he revved the motor and put the baseball bat into the back of his shirt and then took off right then.

* * *

**September 27th**

**4:27 PM**

**Gulf Beach area**

For the past couple of hours, Tammy had spent that time out in the middle of the outbreak. She knew better than to be out there alone, so she had recruited the services of Marcus, the bouncer of La Tropicana, and Gregory, the beach cop who had snapped previously, but then came to his senses. She thought about driving everyone out there, but Gregory insisted that he'd drive them out there in his police SUV. After all, there were things in the back that they could use against the undead.

When she went further into other parts of the city, she had noticed that the number of zombies had increased. More and more kept coming out the woodwork. However, some ZDC agents were around to provide assistance for her and her crew. The weapons she had made were rather useful, as the shotgun axe was useful in alternating between shooting zombies and also using melee combat. The mower shield proved useful, though throughout the time she was out there she had blood spill all over her when having the motor cut right through the zombies' festering flesh.

Many moments had occurred when she found some survivors stranded in different areas, whether they stood on cars, in stores, any area where they would feel trapped. But Tammy and the two men intervened and cleared the areas so that the still-living people could go on their merry ways.

Tammy had noticed that a lot of the businesses had their doors opened, despite the fact that they were not exactly open for business, at least not that day. She had reached a point where she needed to take a breather and found a diner nearby. Marcus turned to Tammy.

"Hey, I was here earlier," he said.

"What?"

"Yeah, I was here with your boyfriend last night, we found that one guy here," Marcus said.

"Well, you guys go inside, I will be inside in a bit," Tammy said, and then she saw something that seemed irregular. She took a closer look as there was broken glass laid on the ground and what looked like a few dead wasps and then squatted to take closer look. The glass appeared to be yellow or gold. "What the hell is this?"

To her right, a zombie walked towards her with its arms out and hands open. Out of her right peripheral, she saw it coming towards her and then aimed the shotgun axe towards the zombie and shot it right in the chest. Blood splattered all over the ground. She got out of the squatting position and sat on the ground and then quickly got up and saw another zombie coming her way, with its hands on the back of its head. She then gripped the barrel of the shotgun and then swung the hybrid weapon right to the zombie's neck and cut through it from one side to the other. The head tumbled down right to the ground. Out of the neck of the already festering walking corpse looked like a bee, and more zombies walking closer and closer. The bee came towards Tammy ready to sting her, but she swung the weapon towards it. Though she didn't hit or cut the insect, the impact of the breeze from the swing caused the bee to fall to the ground. She raised her right foot and then stomped right on the insect. Just then, the trove of zombies that were approaching her from before convulsed, some had their hands right to their heads which then exploded, as all of the zombies had collapsed. Blood had splattered all over their undead corpses, along with larvae coming out of the bodies. She then moved her foot and saw the dead insect.

What the hell just happened? She thought. She then looked again at the broken glass with the already dead bees. She got out her phone so that she could take a picture, but she could open up the camera, she noticed a new message, as it was from Andy. She opened it up and read it, which prompted her to call him. But before she did, she took a picture of the broken glass and dead bees, along with the horde of dead zombies. Afterwards, she quickly called Andy.

Andy was already on foot at that moment trying to look for some survivors and killed some zombies at that moment, and then he noticed something else. His phone rang and then picked up. "Hey, sweetie, where are you?"

"Andy, you're up," Tammy said. "What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you that," Andy said. "I was worried about you."

"Look, I'm okay, I am at a diner right now to lie low for a bit," Tammy said. "I have some guys with me who could help me."

Andy then looked around noticed a car rolling around with some shady-looking figures wielding weapons. _What the fuck?_

The look of those figures seemed like they could be connected with that gang they came across from earlier. He also noticed some other members on foot wielding weapons. "Wait there, I have an idea about which diner you might be at. You might want to stay there."

"Why?"

"No time to explain, let's just say that more danger is coming our way," he said. "I'll be there in a bit."

"Wait, I found some stuff," Tammy said.

"Tell me when I get there, it can wait," Andy said.

Andy quickly got back on the bike and started it up. The sound of the motor revving caused one of the gang members to look up and noticed a blonde guy on the motorbike.

"Hey, I think that's the guy that our boss told us about, get him!" said one of the gang members.

The gang members drew their guns and started shooting towards Andy. He put the bike at such a high speed that it was not long until he got out of their sights. It was not a surprise to him that they were going to come back after what had happened that morning. He drove through zombies without warning, as the one thing he wanted to get to was holed up in the diner he was at a little more than 12 hours before.

Man, what the fuck do these guys want from me? He thought. It was not long until he found the diner where everyone else was. He got up and then ran towards the door. Tammy looked up and saw him getting closer and opened the door for him and then slammed the door in just a split second after he got in. Andy hugged Tammy right then.

"What's going out there, Andy?" Tammy said. "You sounded paranoid before you got off the phone."

"I saw some of those gang members out there," Andy said. "They looked like they were a part of that same gang that we came across earlier."

"Oh no," Tammy said, as her green eyes got a little bigger at that moment. "This is getting worse."

"Wait, did you say gang members?" a voice uttered, as Andy and Tammy turned their attentions towards the person, who turned to be Gregory.

"Yes, we dealt with them earlier," Andy said.

"I think you're talking about the Caribbean Boyz," Gregory said. "I've dealt with them myself. They are brutal."

"Well, we're still here, so what does that tell you?" Tammy said.

"I am telling you right now, just avoid them at all costs," Gregory said.

"You don't have to tell me that," Andy said, who turned his attention towards Tammy. "Hey, what was it that you needed to show me?"

Tammy reached for her phone and went into the gallery and then opened the picture of the glass and then showed it to Andy.

"Wait, those look like those queen bees," Andy said.

Memories came back to Tammy right then, as she had read "The Willamette Incident" recently. She remembered an excerpt about the queen bees from Santa Cabeza, how if they sting someone, the person could turn into a zombie. Then something else hit her.

"Before you got here, one of those bees was about to sting me but then I killed it," Tammy said.

What she had just said got Andy to think about the nightmares he had. What's bad about this is that Tammy had no knowledge about certain details of the dreams he had, though one of them he had just recently. He knew that he needed to tell her eventually, but he had no idea when the right time was, especially with one of them taking place on a special day. But he had not done the important thing to lead to such a day just yet, and he held on to his promise that he will pop the question, but only under the right circumstances, even if it meant waiting until they got saved.

"The weirdest thing happened when I killed the bee," Tammy said. "A lot of the zombies started to die right before my very eyes."

"Wait, you don't remember anything like this?" Andy said.

"What are you talking about?" Tammy said.

Andy told her about the fact that the wasps have these special hormones in them. He had to refresh her memory about how when they met, Chuck Greene had smashed a jar that caused the zombies to die right then. More of her memory came back from that bit she had read in the book. Tammy said that she did not remember seeing the zombies die on impact as she turned her head when that happened as Andy carried her back to the safe house, plus it had been two years. And then something hit her.

"I have an idea," Tammy said. "Maybe we should try catching some of these bees to use as weapons against the zombies."

Andy and the other two guys looked at her.

"You're really smart, have I ever told you how I much love you?" Andy said.

"Yes, you have," Tammy said and smiled.

"Well, we're going to have to find some jars somewhere," Andy said. "But if we're going out there, I know a way to prevent us from getting bitten."

Andy then went into the kitchen area to find some food to mix to make a drink. He first found a jug of orange juice and a cantaloupe and then put them in the blender. The liquid looked yellow.

"That's weird, it was not like this before," Andy said, and took a drink of it. Out of nowhere, a wasp flew towards Andy from behind. Because it was a little dark in the kitchen, the bee had a glow to it. Tammy looked up and saw it coming towards him.

"Andy, look out, that bee is going to sting you!"

He looked up and quickly ran from it and then saw an empty jar sitting on a counter. He picked it up and removed the lid and as the wasp got closer, Andy raised the jar to lure it right in and then took the cap and sealed the jar. "Whew, that was close!"

He then tried to remember the right foods to use to make one of the other drinks he had before. He noticed some more bacon and a pie in another fridge to use. He put the foods into the blender this time to make the drink, which had the red liquid.

Tammy looked at Andy, "What is this supposed to do?"

"From what I understand, it's supposed to prevent zombies from touching us, or at least grabbing us," Andy said, and then poured it into a glass and drank it.

Tammy was skeptical about trying this drink, but the taste was the least of her worries, as she hoped that Andy was right about this. She grabbed a glass and then served herself the mixed drink and took a swig. As it went down, she had a bitter look on her face. "It tastes funny, but not too bad."

Marcus took a drink of it, along with Gregory, who did the same thing. It was then that they were untouchable towards zombies.

"This won't last long, so let's go while we can," Andy said.

All four people left the diner. Andy looked at his watch and noticed that it was after 5 PM. He remembered that Ana wanted him and Tammy back at around 6 PM. What Tammy found would be useful to them anyway.

Everyone slowly walked, and then a loud gunshot was heard, which caused everyone to duck.

"Shit, they're still out here!" Andy yelled.

The gang members started running towards the quartet. Gregory quickly got out his gun and starting firing towards them. All four of them ran away to try to avoid them, even Gregory, as he needed to find some cover before they started firing their guns. Andy and Tammy found an alley to stand in. Andy drew his baseball bat. He didn't have the right type of hardware to use in this situation; neither did Marcus, as he was wielding a lead pipe. But it was better than nothing.

One thug ran right by the alley Andy was, who then quickly swung the bat right to the guy's dome. On impact, the criminal fell right the ground, and Andy picked up his Uzi. Tammy stood behind Andy, and from behind her, a couple of other thugs approached her. Something seemed amiss to her as she felt like someone or something was behind her. She then gripped the shotgun axe from the head of the gun and then turned around swung the weapon towards one of the thugs who tried to sneak up behind her. The head of the axe cut a line right on the thug's chest. She quickly pulled the weapon from the man's chest with blood dripping as he dropped to his knees and fell face down to the pavement. The other thug who was with the now-dead criminal quickly drew a gun, but Tammy quickly gripped her hand on the butt of the weapon and aimed right towards and pulled the trigger and shot him right in the chest. Upon impact the thug fell backwards onto the pavement. So much shock was shown on Tammy's face as she realized that she had taken the lives of two living men, but it was either kill or be killed or even worse at that moment.

Andy looked at her and turned his head sideways and waved his hand right in her face. "Tammy, are you okay?"

Tammy panted a bit, "I can't believe I just did that."

"Look, it was either you or them," Andy said. "Let's try to get back, okay?"

Tammy nodded her head and followed Andy's word. "Okay, cool. Let's go."

Meanwhile, Gregory and Marcus managed to keep the other criminals at bay. Marcus managed to pick up a firearm and use it if necessary. He fired a few shots at some of them, some of which were fatal, others managed to wound them. One criminal tried to fight him hand-to-hand as he threw a punch towards him.

"You don't want to do this, just walk away and we won't have anymore problems," Marcus said. The thug didn't listen, or at least did not want to cooperate, as he swung a right hook towards Marcus's face, but he blocked the punch and grabbed it and twisted it in the opposite direction. The gang member screamed in pain. Marcus released him, and the gang member ran away.

The hurt gang member ran towards a car that was parked somewhere on the nearby street. Two men were sitting there blasting "Pass the Glock" from Terror Squad on the radio. He knocked on the window.

"Hey, man, we need to stand down now," the guy said.

"What happened?" Another thug said.

"Some of our guys are dead, motherfucker! Let's go now!"

The hurt criminal looked to his right and a zombie approached him and grabbed him. He screamed at the top of his lungs, which caused the driver to look out the window, only to see that the zombie was eating the thug alive as blood sprayed out. The driver looked on and held his hand right to his mouth and started to convulse a bit, but he tried to keep himself from throwing up. However, he could not hold back any longer as he opened the door to let the vomit out. As soon as he closed the door, the zombie who ate the thug turned its attention towards the two men in the car. The passenger looked to the driver's side and out the window on his side and saw another zombie on the other end.

"Dude, let's get the fuck out of here!"

The driver quickly started the car so that they could get out of dodge. He then got out his phone to make a call.

"Hey, Ricardo, bad news, man. No, we didn't get those people from earlier. It seemed like they were ready, but it seems that some zombies ate one of our other guys. What do you want to now? Look, are you crazy?"

Ricardo said, "Look, this is what we were told to do. I would kill them, too, but it seems that our guy wants to get the guy alive. He'll pay us if we kill him, but he'll pay us more if we take him alive."

"Okay, we'll keep that in mind. We're going to lie low for a bit, we'll meet you somewhere."

Meanwhile, many of the gang members regrouped and took off, especially after some of them were killed, in self-defense of course. Two of them walked away, but a group of zombies had grabbed one of them and pushed him to the ground. One zombie grabbed his left leg, and another grabbed his right arm and pulled them to rip the limbs right off of him. Blood spilled all over the ground as more zombies crowded around him and started eating more of his flesh. The other gang member stood there frozen stiff and shook at what he just saw. From behind, another zombie bit him right on his right shoulder. He quickly broke away and shot the zombie that bit him right in the head.

"Fuck!" He yelled and put his left hand right on his shoulder. He noticed some blood dripping onto his left forearm, and then raised his arm right towards his mouth. His arm started getting redder as more dripped onto it. He then started to shake, and more blood continued to drip from his mouth, and his eyes then glazed over.

Andy, Tammy, Marcus, and Gregory continued to go on their way back to where they need to go. Andy looked at his watch and it said that was after 5:30 PM. Tammy's earpiece started ringing.

"Hey, what's up?" she said.

"Hey, it's almost 6; Torres and Simpson want you guys to come back soon. They need to show you something," Paulson said.

"We're on our way, we have something to show them, too," Tammy said.

It had dawned on Andy that he had left his earpiece back at the mansion, but no matter. They needed to get back. Andy straddled the bike, with Tammy riding right behind him and wrapped her arms around him. Andy looked behind, "We'll meet you guys there."

"We're right behind you," Gregory said.

As soon as Andy started up the bike, the zombie who used to be a gang member walked towards them. Tammy looked up and saw the walking cadaver and blurted out, "Um, Andy!"

Andy then looked up as soon as he heard it and saw the zombie coming towards them. He got off the bike and got out the baseball bat from out of the back of his shirt and walked towards the zombie and delivered a hard swing to the zombie's head and knocked it down. However, as he stood over it, the zombie continued to move, so he raised his right foot in and kicked its head off of its body to make sure that it was dead.

Andy then went back to the motorcycle and Tammy asked him what just happened.

"I hit a home run and a field goal," he said.

Before he could start the motorcycle, he barely noticed a McHandy's Hardware store that was nearby. A thought hit Andy's mind right then. "Hey, Tammy, I have an idea."

Andy approached the door with Tammy following him and then hit the glass on the door. The alarm sounded, but it didn't matter. Gregory and Marcus watched as they went inside the story with the alarm blaring.

"Hey, shouldn't you go arrest them?" Marcus said and laughed.

"None of that shit matters right now, I'll let this slide," Gregory said.

Andy and Tammy looked around to find one thing they needed. Actually, make that two of the same thing to be exact. Andy then found what he was looking for: a chainsaw. He then told Tammy to pick up another chainsaw. He walked around to find a couple of rolls of duct tape. The couple then exited the store, with zombies coming towards them yet again. Tammy then started up the chainsaw and ran right towards a few of them and yelled as she slashed a few zombies in the process.

Andy stood there and smiled. _That's my girl._

She turned around and walked back to Andy. "Okay, let's do this."

Andy took his chainsaw and taped it to one side of the bike, while Tammy did the same thing on the other side of the bike. Gregory and Marcus looked on with so much intrigue at what they were doing. Andy then started up the bike, along with the chainsaws that were taped to the bike.

Andy turned towards the other two men, "Okay, now let's go!"

Andy drove the bike with Tammy having wrapped her arms around him. Gregory drove himself and Marcus back to the base, as they were right behind the couple in their car. Several zombies had crowded the roads, but with Andy and Tammy having made a Slicecycle, they had their own way of getting through. Andy rammed right through several zombies, whether he ran over them, or just sliced them all into two from the two chainsaws on the sides of the bike. A lot of undead bodies were cut up, with organs hanging on each end and puddles of blood all over the road. It was almost 6 PM, and they needed to get back to where they needed to be.

* * *

**September 27th**

**5:57 PM**

**The Mendoza Mansion**

It had not been two hours since Andy had left to go and look for Tammy, but a lot had occurred within that amount of time. The couple, along with Marcus and Gregory entered the house, and Ana was standing right by the door.

"Oh, thank god you guys are all okay," Ana said. "And you are guys are covered in blood."

"Thanks for noticing," Tammy said. "We'll go rinse ourselves and then we'll talk. I got to show you what I found."

"Well, I found some stuff too," Ana said. "We'll wait for you."

The couple did not want to take their time, so the most they could do was go into a bathroom and just rinse their faces from the blood that had splattered on them. Tammy got to experience what it was like to kill zombies, even though she had done it before, but it was not much. The couple then went towards Ana.

"Hey, what do you need to show us?" Andy said.

"Follow me," Ana said.

All three went towards a room where Simpson was, along with Paul and Professor Logan were. It looked like a family room, as there was a lot of room for people to sit down, but Paul sat on a couch with his laptop on the coffee table. His dog was right next to him.

"It's okay, Eddie," Paul said to his dog. "We're safe here."

"I understand you found something for us to see," Simpson said towards Tammy.

"Actually, I did find something," Tammy said, and then got out her phone and opened up the picture. "There's another one you might want to see."

Simpson looked through her phone. The first picture he saw was the one of the broken glass and the second one was of the dead zombies with the larvae surrounding it. "Holy shit, this is some fucked up shit. Hey, Ana, you need to see this."

He passed the phone to Ana, as she looked at the pictures to see what Tammy had shot. Suddenly, the broken glass seemed familiar. When she was at the camp earlier, she remembered noticing what looked like canisters holding swarms of the bees in them. The glass was the same color as the one that was used on those containers. She then noticed the other picture.

"Oh my god, I must show you the video right now of what I got!"

She got out her phone, but this was something that everyone needed to see at the same time. The video she got, it could not be passed around, because it had to be seen once and that would be enough for everyone.

"Hey, Paul, can I use your laptop?" She asked.

"Sure thing," Paul said.

Ana got out her USB cord to hook her phone to the computer. She had to make sure that it would read and that the computer would allow showing the content. Once she got through, she opened up her phone and went straight for the documents and found the video.

"I must warn you; this is going to be very disturbing."

Everyone in the room watched the video that she took, and looked on with so much emotion and shock that they did not know what to think. Andy put his hand to his mouth, while Tammy wrapped her arm around him and then turned her face towards Andy's shoulder the moment it got to when Professor Edwards started turning into a zombie. Though she may have killed some zombies that day, she could not handle the sight of someone turning into a zombie right before her very eyes, whether she was watching it on a video or live.

Agent Simpson then came to a realization that the zombie he shot earlier was that same scientist in the video. It was right after he had turned.

After the video was over, she then went to show the picture of what she had seen earlier that day. It was a picture of that odd machine she saw.

"Hey, Professor Logan, can you tell me what this is?"

"Yes, that thing is used to harvest the wasps," Logan said. "We found a remote area to try to harvest the wasps for this outbreak."

Agent Simpson intervened, "I noticed your friend talking about a special client. Who is this person?"

Logan then looked up with so much fear on his face that he did not know if he should talk. "If I tell you, will you protect me?"

"You're safe here," Simpson said. "All you have to do is give us a name."

Logan inhaled and exhaled, "Look, from what I understand, this guy is a wanted criminal, okay? He is a major drug lord who is on the run. Ronald, as in Professor Edwards, somehow caught wind of this, as Robert Walters, that same crazy guy in the video, made a deal with him."

"Who is he?" Ana said.

"I think his name is Carlos Mendoza or something like that," Logan said.

Just then, silence had broken out on Simpson and Ana, as the one man that they were after had something to do with the outbreak. They had only thought that they had stumbled upon something big but did not think that anything related to the zombie outbreak was connected to their main case.

"Do you know where he is?" Simpson said.

"No, I know nothing, but I have some files on this flash drive that may be useful to you guys," Logan said. "Take it; you will need it to find some stuff."

Logan handed the thumb drive over to Ana so that she could look at a lot of the things that were on it. Once she got in, she noticed several folders that had files related to outbreaks. However, she found an outbreak related to Palm Tree City, as well as one on Miami, and other parts of Florida. She first opened the folder to the one on Palm Tree City and saw the files for plans, schematics, maps, etc. She even noticed a file on a girl named Mary Mitchell under the Miami folder. It was said that she had not turned yet, and that she is currently 22 and living in Palm Tree City.

"Oh my god, I think that things are getting crazier here," Ana said.

"What, what did you find?" Andy said.

"I think I found a profile on someone who was supposed to start an outbreak years ago, but somehow she had escaped and possibly had her name changed. It's said that she is living out here, but there is no address."

"Well, we have to find her somehow," Andy said. "I mean, it's said that Phenotrans had located her to be in this city, but then again, she might be going under a different name."

"We'll figure it out," Ana said.

Simpson then picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. It was now 7 PM and the news report had stated the following:

_All survivors are urged to get to military quarantine stations for immediate care and rescue, or to stay inside locked shelter and not go out at night. Survivors should use extreme caution when dealing with zombies after dark when their hunger and strength apparently increases, due to an unknown mutation of the virus._

If what everyone saw on Ana's video wasn't bad enough, the time of the day had reached a point where zombies are a little more dangerous than before. It still had not reached for a full 24 hours since everyone had dealt with zombies, and it was after 7 PM the previous day, but this was now the first that everyone heard of this.

"Well this is just great," Andy said. "So what do we do now?"

"This was just a warning," Ana said. "We still need to find some stuff out there. I may have to figure out a way to find Mary Mitchell to see if she may know anything about this. Of course, in the meantime, we could also find some more survivors out there."

"That sounds like a plan," Andy said. "Come on, Tammy; let's go see what's out there."

"I'm coming along," Ana said. "You will need my help on this."

"Well, the more the merrier," Andy said.

"Let's go," Tammy said.

**September 27th**

**7:11 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**64:48:32**


	12. A Risqué Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is centered on Andy and Tammy.

**September 27th**

**8:13 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**63:46:29**

For the past hour, Andy, Tammy, and Ana went around the resort area of the city. What was said in the news briefing was true, as when night falls, zombies usually get more powerful and hungrier.

Even though it was at night when the outbreak started, the thought did not occur to anybody. The news anchor likely had received some information from some sources that stated how the strength and hunger increased when night hits. Even as it got darker, the eyes on the zombies had a red glow to them.

Either way, the trio had to find some other living people for the time being. At around midnight, Ana wanted to go back to base to try finding some information about Mary Mitchell, or who was formerly known as such. The information noted that she was supposed to be among the 50 infected orphans that Carlito Keyes had listed to start outbreaks. Though the list was only seven years old up to that point and though some outbreaks had occurred since then, there was no outbreak in Miami, at least not yet. However, the outbreak in Palm Tree City started under different circumstances, but that did not mean that Phenotrans would not try to locate the alleged orphan so that she could start the outbreak in Miami. Who even knew if she was carrying the virus at all?

Whatever the case was, it was not time yet, as Ana and the couple received calls on their transceivers. They happened to be in a somewhat safe zone away from zombies inside a restaurant. Being that Ana was the one who was a field agent, she was the first to answer.

"Hey, Paulson, what do you have?"

"Torres, I see a couple of things on here," he said. "I see some stuff going on at the Hotel Caribbean. It looks like someone who may be an employee there is trapped, but had found some place to stay, but I don't think he'll last long."

Considering the place was where Ana worked on the side, what came to her mind was, "What does he look like?"

"I can't tell on the feed, but he looks like he could be a Caucasian male in his late-30s or early-40s, brown hair, kind of overweight, but that's all I can find."

_Is it Kent? If so, I must go and save him._ She thought. "I will go check it out."

"Hold on, I also detect another thing," Paulson said. "I see what looks like a couple of nearly-naked women in bikinis or something of that nature outside Tantalizing and Alluring. They look pretty shaken."

"Tantalizing and Alluring? The strip club?" Ana said. "We will be on our way."

When Ana got off, Andy asked her what she was told.

"I was told that my boss at the hotel is trapped, and also some crazy shit is going down at this strip club called Tantalizing and Alluring," she said. "We need to check this stuff out right now."

"Wait, I have a better idea," Andy said. "How about you go save your boss at the hotel, while Tammy and I go check out the strip club?"

Tammy's eyes got bigger when she heard that. "What?"

Andy turned his head towards his girl, "Baby, you and I are a team. We're all in this together. Besides, Ana can take care of herself."

Ana turned towards Tammy, "I'll be fine, don't worry. You have a great guy here. We'll meet up later."

Ana then wrapped her arms around Andy. "Both of you be careful out there."

After they released each other, Andy replied, "We will be fine."

Tammy looked on as if that hug was more than just a friendly one. Ana had initiated it, and the way she held on for a little more than a second rose her suspicions a tad.

Before Ana walked out the door, she turned around and looked at the pair, "We'll meet up later. Call me through the radio if you find other things, okay?"

"We will," Tammy said. She looked on with very little enthusiasm on her face. "That looked like a little more than just a 'good luck' hug."

Andy turned towards with a puzzled look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I saw the way she hugged you," Tammy said. "And now we're going to a strip club to check some stuff out."

"Baby, this is not the time for this," Andy said. "Besides, we need to check this out. I heard through the earpiece that some girls were shaken. Plus, we need to save them before the zombies get to them."

"Okay, we'll talk about this later," Tammy said. "But something about that place gives me the wrong idea."

Andy shrugged, "You're the only girl for me. Besides, I know what I'm doing. Let's go now."

Before they got any further, Andy got out his cellphone to check the GPS to see where Tantalizing and Alluring was located. It turned out that the location was a little farther, as it was located in North Shore.

"Okay, we're going to have to find a car, because that is quite a ways away," Andy said.

At that point, the streets of Palm Tree City, or at least Palm Tree Beach had looked more like a war zone. Cars left unattended as if they were parked in the middle of the street, as well as well trucks blocking where traffic would be, but all the traffic on the streets were hordes of zombies everywhere. Andy had the baseball bat he used earlier, while Tammy had restocked on shotgun shells for her shotgun axe. Oddly enough, Andy looked on the ground and saw some barbed wire lying around. He grabbed it and wrapped it around the bat.

They walked around headed for the first car they saw on the street, which appeared to be a muscle car. Andy opened the door to the driver's side but when he opened, a couple of hands grabbed his shoulders, and heard a snarl right behind his ear. It was so close that he was the mouth was right near his neck, and then the hands released their grip as the zombie fell. Andy then turned around and saw Tammy standing there with her weapon in hand.

"Thanks, baby," Andy said.

"Hey, I will always have your back," Tammy said.

She walked around to get to the passenger's side. However, what just happened to Andy was now about to happen to Tammy, as the moment she opened the door, another zombie was approaching her from behind. Andy stood there and flashbacks from his nightmares had come back to him, especially the visions of Tammy turning into a zombie. He quickly jumped and slid over the hood of the car, and landed right in front of Tammy. She barely turned her head to look behind her and saw a zombie closing in on her. Andy raised his wired bat and she ducked as he swung it right to the zombie's face and then it fell backwards.

Andy then turned around and helped Tammy get back on her feet, and was about to enter the car, but then she looked behind Andy and saw the same zombie back on its feet and closing in Andy this time. It was clearly not dead and part of the reason was because it was nighttime when zombies were stronger, and that zombie in particular was clearly hungry for human flesh.

"ANDY, BEHIND YOU," she screamed.

The zombie grabbed Andy's shoulders and was ready to bite him, but Andy jumped off his feet and fell backwards while the zombie held onto him. The force from the jump caused Andy's body weight to crush the zombie, whose head was smashed when they hit the ground. Tammy walked towards him as he was still on the ground and put her hand out and Andy grabbed it so that he could get up.

Andy picked up his bat and quickly went right to driver's seat and closed the door. Tammy did the same thing, and had her weapon in tow, and Andy locked both doors. Andy started the car, but then zombies started crowding the car, looking at the couple like they were fresh meat. Some of them even crawled right on top of the car and held on to it. Andy put it in drive and stomped on the gas from zero to 60 in 4 seconds, and with that speed, it was enough to have a few zombies to lose their grips, as well as ram a few zombies that were right in front of them.

They had somewhere they needed to be, and no time was to be wasted.

* * *

**TANTALIZING AND ALLURING**

**8:56 PM**

Andy and Tammy finally got to the area they needed to go. Normal driving distance would have taken a bit longer with traffic, but it still took them some time to get there with the undead being the primary obstacle, among other things.

The couple got out of the car. They saw two scantily-clad women standing outside of the establishment. Surprisingly enough, they haven't gotten bitten, but as Andy and Tammy got closer, one of them suspected it could have been because of the fragrance that they were wearing. Whatever the case was, Andy and Tammy approached the two ladies. One was a blonde and wearing a thong bikini. The other was a brunette and wore some rather revealing lingerie.

"Excuse me, can you tell us what's going on here?" Tammy said.

"Some creepy guy is holding one of the girls hostage, saying that he won't leave until she agrees to marry him," the blonde said.

"We were lucky to get out, only to see that there were zombies out here," the brunette said. "Lucky for us, they haven't come to us."

Andy replied, "This guy is probably not much of a threat. We'll see what's going on. Come inside, it's not safe out here."

"Be careful," the blonde said. "He has a gun."

Just when Tammy heard that, a look of concern grew on her face. Out of the two, she was the only one who was armed with a firearm. "Look, Andy, this is dangerous, but I think I have an idea."

"What's your idea?" He said.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"This better work," he said. "You better have a backup plan."

All four people entered the gentlemen's club. Andy told the other two girls to stay in the entrance area. The couple walked down the hallway and once they got into the main stage area, a man, who appeared to be in his early-40s stood on stage, holding what appeared to be a Latina woman who was wearing a sexy cop costume at gunpoint as a human shield. Among the other hostages were three guys who seemed like patrons and a woman who appeared to be a waitress, as she was dressed in revealing clothes, but didn't appear to be a dancer like the other two girls, as her outfit was not completely revealing.

"Man, we're going to need more than what he took to haul these guys back to the safe house," Tammy said.

"That's not important right now," Andy said in a very low voice.

The crazy guy saw the couple, "What do you two want?"

"Hey, we just want to talk," Andy said.

"About what, trying to keep me from declaring my love to her?" the man said.

"Look, if you put down your weapon, we'll settle this like gentlemen," Andy said.

The man raised his gun and pointed it right at Andy, "How do I know you're not trying to steal her away from me?"

Andy looked at him confusedly, while Tammy tried to be calm about this.

"Put down your weapons and then maybe we'll talk," the man said.

Andy didn't know how to deal with a situation like this. It was not like he was prepared for this, but was he prepared to fight a crazy martial artist the night before? Plus, there was no time to find a hostage negotiator, especially with this going on right in front of him. Nevertheless, Andy put down his barbed wire bat, and Tammy put down her shotgun axe.

The man stared at Tammy and his eyes shifted up and down. Tammy noticed what he did, but rather than be disgusted, another idea sprung to her mind.

Andy slowly walked toward the stage with his arms in the air.

"Sir, what is your name?" Andy said.

"My name is Benny, and I LOVE DEIDRE!" he said, as he kissed his hostage on the cheek and licked her right after. Everyone in the room except for Benny cringed at that sight.

"Benny, this is not worth it, she is just a dancer and she was doing her job," Andy said.

"I don't care, I love her!" Benny said, who then moved his arm away from her neck area and then ran his left hand around her chest area and then touched her breast. "Oh, that feels good."

The disgust and discomfort on Deidre's face at that moment could not have been more obvious, as she clearly wanted to slap him in the face, but Benny had that gun in his hand and she did not want to take that risk.

The three guys who were nearby shook and looked on in fear as to what was going on right on in front of them. The waitress picked up the tray and covered her face as she felt uncomfortable by the sight.

While Andy tried to talk to Benny, Tammy took off to the side and adjusted her bra a bit from under her tank top. She then took off her jacket and set it down.

"I was banned from this place. I never got to tell her how I feel!" Benny said. "And now with the zombies being out there, I needed to declare my love to her before it was too late."

Calling this guy delusional would be an understatement as it was clear that he fell for her because she danced for him, and likely flirted with him during those times. While it was true that some strippers would go home with some patrons, others did not. Whether Deidre had done that with any patrons or not, no one knew, but it did not seem like Benny had gotten a lot of action from the ladies in a long time.

"I am divorced, my kids won't even talk to me," he said. "I thought my life went to shit until I met Deidre."

At first glance, Andy suspected that this guy would be a guy who didn't meet a lot of women, but it dawned on him that he was married before, but the marriage did not work out.

"Look, why don't you just call your ex-wife or your kids? I am sure they might be worried about you," Andy said. "You don't want to hurt anybody, come on."

Andy clearly meant well, but the concerned and paranoid look on Benny's face turned into a scowl, as he raised the gun. "Yes, I do."

Right before he could pull the trigger, Tammy stood on the bar counter and called for Benny's attention. Benny then turned his attention towards her and she felt her breasts and poured water all over her shirt and made some sexual gestures towards him. Benny lowered the gun while he looked at her. The diversion caused Andy to get on stage and kicked Benny's right hand, causing the gun to drop. Deidre then elbowed Benny in the gut and then drove his head right towards the pole on the stage. He was knocked out, but not for long, as he got up after nearly a minute.

Benny got up and got off the stage and looked right at Andy and said, "This isn't over, asshole! I'll find you and I'll fucking kill you!"

Benny stormed right through the hallway, while the two strippers who stood jumped when he walked right by them.

Back in the main stage area, Deidre turned her attention towards Andy, while Tammy looked in the distance and quickly got off the bar counter and approached the stage.

"Hey, papi, thank you so much for doing that," Deidre said in a flirty tone and started to get a little closer to Andy. "I was wondering if I could, you know…repay you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it right there, missy, he's with me!" Tammy quickly got on to the stage to stop Deidre from trying to flirt with her man some more.

Deidre's eyes shifted towards Tammy, who then stood right next to Andy at that point.

"Whoa, feisty one, aren't you?" Deidre said. "Wait a minute, don't I know you?"

Tammy responded, "I don't think so. Where would you know me from?"

"I think you used to be a mermaid performer at the Atlantica Casino in Fortune City," Deidre said. "I used to live out in the area and I danced at The Peephole. I sometimes went into the Atlantica to get a drink."

"You're right, I was a mermaid performer at that place," Tammy said. "Small world, huh?"

"Hey, I was wondering," said one of the three guys. "Weren't you and your girl at the Hotel Caribbean yesterday? I think I saw you two at the pool during the day."

Andy took a closer look at the guys.

"Oh yeah, I remember you guys," he said in a somewhat sly tone. "I remember you guys alright."

The guys then realized who they were, especially with Andy talking in that tone. It became clear to them that he knew that they were looking at Tammy at the time, but he was not mad then, nor was he mad now. Besides, the fact that Deidre was flirting with him in front of his girlfriend was different than a group of guys gazing at Tammy's figure in a skimpy swimsuit.

"Just wondering, but why are you guys here?" Tammy asked.

The main guy replied, "Well, we went out clubbing last night. We were dancing with three hot ladies at the Havana Nights club, but then the zombies started coming out and we tried everything to find a place for safety, and then we came here for some reason, even though it was little far from the club, but hey, we survived."

Just then, Andy's memory had refreshed when the guy had mentioned Havana Nights. He recalled when that girl Rachel had talked about her friends and when he went to go rescue them. One of the girls, Brittany, had mentioned something about dancing with a few guys.

"What are your names, by the way?" Andy said.

The main guy answered, "I'm Mike." He pointed to the guy to his right. "This is Tony." And then to the guy to his left, "This is Charlie."

Deidre intervened. "Wait, handsome, you were talking about getting me to safety, but I think I have an idea before we get out of here." She then moved closer to Andy. "Why don't I dance for you?"

She then raised her eyebrows twice, much to the dismay of Tammy, who stood right there as she watched the stripper flirt with her boyfriend.

"Okay, that's it! We're leaving!" Tammy said, but then Deidre stopped her before she walked away.

"I think I have an idea," Deidre said, and then faced Tammy. "I have a question, can you dance?"

"Wait, what?" Tammy said.

"Huh?" Andy said.

"I see that you have a great body, and if you don't want to be jealous of me dancing for your man right here," Deidre said so seductively. "Why don't you join in on the fun?"

Nothing came out of Tammy's mouth after having heard that suggestion. She was speechless about that, but it probably would have been the only way for her not to get jealous of this. She knew that she and Andy could leave and the people could stay behind, but the fact that they had saved her from a crazy guy meant that Deidre needed to repay them somehow, even if it meant dancing on stage very suggestively and wearing very little. Then again, she has worn some skimpy swimwear and modeled in some before, so how would what she would wear be any different?

"Okay, I'll do it," she said. "But I'll go and change into something. Where's the dressing room?"

The two strippers from earlier jumped right in.

"We'll take you to there, I'm Cherri, by the way," the blonde said. "And this is Strawberri."

The three ladies walked into the back area so that Tammy could change. Andy just sat in a chair that was by the stage. He needed to take a breather after what he just went through.

"Hey, man, I want you to know, you are one lucky man," Mike said to Andy.

"Well, thank you," Andy said and smiled.

"Just letting you know, I don't mean because your girl is hot, but it seems that she would do anything for you," Mike said. "I don't know you, but a girl like that, she definitely seems like a keeper."

Andy sighed a bit, "Well, that's love right there, and I think I am more than lucky to have her."

As he sat there, music started to blare over the speakers. The song was "What's It Gonna Be" from Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson. Right on the stage, Deidre started moving her hips and her butt very suggestively and put her hands over her breasts and started feeling them. She started unbuttoning her costume and tugged on the ends up and down so that she could shake her breasts a bit. She undid the sides of her costume and revealed a rather skimpy bra. She took off her hat and started to twirl it a bit and then tossed it towards Andy, who smiled a bit.

She shook her hips and butt more as she pushed her costume down to reveal her curvaceous body, and also a thong as she had her back towards the guys and shook her money maker.

Out of the curtains, Tammy walked out in a robe and quickly removed it to reveal a pink thong bikini, and it definitely did not look like something she would wear at a beach. Andy's smile grew even bigger, as she started to gyrate on stage and ran her hands through her red hair.

Deidre ran her hands down from her neck to her breasts and down her stomach and right to her crotch with a very lustful look on her face. She sat on her bottom and kicked her legs up and turned her body around onto all fours.

Tammy danced rather sexily herself, as she put her hands right to the pole and kicked her right leg out and then wrapped it around the pole and then climbed upwards. As she climbed a little higher, she moved her body back and hung upside down.

Mike leaned over towards Andy, "Hey, man, was your girl a stripper before?"

"No, not really, but she does take pole dancing classes, though," Andy said.

After Tammy slid down the pole and got off, it was now Deidre's turn to use the pole. She climbed up the pole and then spun around as she slid down. As soon she got off, she undid her bra, and right when she took it off, she twirled it around and then threw it to the end of the stage.

Tammy was now on all fours and crawled towards Andy, and signaled him as she shifted her eyes towards her chest. Andy got his hands out and then grabbed her breasts and put his face into them, as she shook them right in his face. It was not really a violation of the rules at that point, as no bouncers were around, as well as that it was his own girlfriend that he was doing that to, and she was not a stripper either.

Right when the song ended, so did their dancing session. Deidre and the three guys tried to convince Tammy to take off her top.

"Oh no, I can't," she said as she was still close to Andy.

Andy looked towards everyone else. "Only I get to see them!"

The trio then groaned at that.

Deidre picked up her bra and then put it back on and approached the couple. "Wow, you did well. Looks like you have done some of this before."

"I take pole dancing classes," Tammy said. "It's just for exercise. I don't strip."

"Either way, I see you got your boy excited," Deidre said as she looked at both of them. "You better take care of that while you can, and then we can go."

Tammy then looked down towards Andy's pants and then smiled a bit. She leaned towards his ear. "Hey, do you want to release some of that energy? I can tell you want to."

Andy whispered, "Let's go find somewhere private and then we'll go."

Andy and Tammy then walked away somewhere. The people who were close by, like the three guys, Strawberri and Cherri, the waitress, and Deidre stayed behind, as they had a good idea what they were about to do.

"Man, that girl was not a bad dancer," said the waitress.

"You're right about that, Tracey," Deidre said, as she put her costume back on. "She is lucky to have him. I like a man who could take charge."

It had only been 10 minutes and they had finally come out. Tammy had found another shirt to wear as the tank top she wore had blood all over it. She found a button-down shirt but unbuttoned it a bit at the top to reveal some cleavage and tied the bottom in a knot, which exposed her midriff.

"Hey, being that there is a lot of you, maybe I can call someone to get you, or I'll find something to drive us back to the safe house," Andy said. "I'll go check outside to see what I can find."

Andy picked up his barbed wire bat and put it in the back of his shirt, but with the end sticking out as he didn't want to cut himself from the wire. He then picked up a bottle of whiskey from the bar and a rag that had alcohol soaked onto it. He opened the bottle and stuffed the rag on the end and then walked away towards the entrance to the club.

The first thing that he saw was a transit bus in the middle of the street with zombies surrounding it, but somebody stood on top of it and yelled towards him. He looked like he could have been the driver of that bus.

Andy approached the bus and took out the bottle and also got out a lighter and lit it on fire and threw it towards a few zombies and saw them catch on fire. As he saw some of them burn, he started whacking a few zombies left and right with his barbed wire bat, and then saw a zombie shaking in an odd way as its hands were in the back of its neck. Andy quickly swung the bat to the zombie's gut and swung it upwards knocking the zombie to fall backwards, as a bee flew right out from the impact. Andy swung towards the bee, and hit it, but in a matter of seconds, he quickly stomped on it, and all the zombies that surrounded the bus had all collapsed to their deaths.

"Wow, that was a close one, thanks, kid," said the driver.

"Don't mention it," Andy said. "Are you the driver of this bus?"

"Yes, I am, my name's George," he said. "I was on my route and then the zombies came up and I managed to get on the roof through the emergency exit."

"Hey, can you me and some people a favor?" Andy said. "I found some living people inside the strip club and I know a place to take them. Can you drive us there?"

"Sure thing, kid," George said.

"Thank you so much, I'll go get them," Andy said. "Call me Andy."

The area was clearer than before, and Andy ran right back to the strip club and yelled towards everyone that he found something.

It dawned on Strawberri and Cherri that they could not go back in the undressed state that they were in. Tracey was more dressed than they were as she had a miniskirt on and a tube top. The two strippers had to go to the back and put on their clothes. It did not take long until they came back and they had more on than before. Tammy offered Strawberri her denim jacket for her to wear, and she accepted.

Andy led the way for the group of people and quickly opened the door to the bus. Everyone got into their seats. Andy and Tammy sat in the front closest to the driver. George tried to start the bus, but it would not start at first. He turned the key in the ignition a bit a harder and the engine started running. It was the first time he drove a bus, but it did not matter, as he only wanted to get the people to safety.

From a distance, Benny looked on with so much indignation as he was right by the strip club the whole time, even when all the other things went on.

After some time, they finally got home free and George opened the door so that all of the passengers could get off.

Right when Andy and Tammy got off, Deidre stopped with them, much to their confusion.

"Hey, aren't you about to go inside?" Tammy said.

"I have a better idea," Deidre said in a much more normal tone than before. "You guys saved me from my stalker; I think my debt is not fully paid yet. How about if I join you and help kill zombies and find other things? I owe you a lot, and I don't think that guy is gone completely."

Andy sighed a bit, but Tammy mouthed to him, "Come on."

"Okay, you can come with us," Andy said.

"Thank you," Deidre said.

"But we need to take a different vehicle this time," Andy said, and saw a sports car in the street. "I think I found the right one."

"Hey," a voice was heard before they entered the car.

"How about if you give you my number," George said. "In case you need to bring back more survivors. This is a big area, so you may need my help in this."

"Sure thing, sir," Andy said. He approached George and busted out his phone so that he could get the phone number. After they were done, they took off in the car to get back into town.

As they drove around, a cellphone rang, but it sounded like it came from Deidre, as she felt the vibration around her chest. She got her phone out of her bra and it read "Private Number." Confused about all of this, she answered the call.

"Hello, honey, did you miss me?" the voice said.

"What the hell?" A look of shock rose on Deidre's face, especially because she knew that voice well. "How did you get my number?"

"Not important, I want you to have that blonde guy who humiliated me earlier to meet me by the club. This ends now."

She hung up on him. "Hey, Andy, I think you should hear this. That Benny wants to meet with you, but I think this is a trap."

"What? Why?" He said. "Look, I need to set this fool straight. This is insane."

Andy hit the gas to get back to where they were just not too long ago.

* * *

**NORTH SHORE**

**9:34 PM**

All three of them got out of the car. Being that Deidre warned Andy that was a trap; Andy came armed with his weapon. Tammy was armed with her weapon, and Deidre picked up a lead pipe that was on the ground.

As they stood around, a buzzing sound was nearby, like a motor was running. Benny came running towards Andy.

"Andy, look out," Tammy yelled.

Andy looked up and quickly dodged the attack. He noticed that Benny was holding a machete on one hand and a small chainsaw on the other.

_What the hell was this guy planning on doing to me?_ He thought.

"You thought you were so slick tonight; you thought you could steal my woman, huh?" Benny said.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I have a girlfriend," Andy said. "She is standing right there. You even saw her."

"Bullshit, I saw the way you were looking at her," Benny said. "She's mine, you hear!"

He then raised his machete and swung it towards Andy.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: BENNY BROWN**

With the choice of weapons that Benny had, Andy figured that he would need to attack him in certain areas of his body. Because if he tried to hit him with the bat, chances were good that Benny would have cut through the bat with the chainsaw.

Andy evaded all of the attacks, with Benny taunting him as if he were a coward.

"Come on, take it like a man!" Benny said.

Deidre ran towards Benny and clocked him the back with lead pipe. He clearly felt it, but he turned around and then dropped the weapons and then walked towards her.

Tammy, having figured out that Deidre was Benny's Achilles heel, stepped in and elbowed him right in the face. Benny was knocked down with a bloody nose, and Deidre kicked him right in the ribs, after all the hell that he had put her through.

"Whoa, you didn't need to go that far," Tammy said.

"If you had a stalker who was obsessed with you like this, you would probably do the same thing," Deidre said.

"It's not worth it, let's just go," Andy said.

The trio started walking towards the car, but then Benny got up and got out his pistol and aimed it right towards them, but out of nowhere, a zombie came from behind and bit him on the left side of his neck. He turned around and shot the zombie in the head, and then rubbed his left hand against his neck. He then put his hand out and noticed all the blood on it, and then looked at the gun on his right hand, raised it and put the barrel right in his mouth.

"No, stop!" Andy said.

But it was too late as Benny pulled the trigger and blood spurted right from the back of his head. The trio watched as the crazy stalker, or what was left of him, fell to the ground.

"Holy shit," Tammy said. "This has been one crazy night."

Deidre stood there in silence and shook at she just saw. She was clearly scared of this guy, but to Andy and Tammy, the flirty stripper that they saw earlier was now relieved of her stalker, but she had no idea that it would end this way.

"I'm just glad that it's over, but he didn't need to do that," Deidre said.

The three then walked to the car. Andy started it up and then they took off to find other things. He had not heard from Ana in more than an hour, so he thought about contacting her to see if she found anything. But before they took off, Andy got out of the car and approached the area where Benny's weapons were. He picked them up and signaled to Tammy to open the trunk so that he could put them in. After that, he got back into the car and then they were off.

**September 27th**

**10:00 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**61:59:57**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, because I had put in Tomomi from Off The Record, I had also decided on putting in Deidre.
> 
> Also, while the bit at the strip club may have been gratuitous, it was reminiscent of those random tasks that survivors will put you through in order for them to follow you. For example, the poker game. It was also a callback to "The Nerds Get a Show" from Fortune City Survivor Stories.


	13. A Risky Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took place at the same as chapter 12 and it's centered on Ana.

**HOTEL CARIBBEAN**

**8:33 PM**

Ana took off to the hotel to find her manager who was trapped. She didn't take her car, as she left it near the restaurant where she was with Andy and Tammy not long before. She got inside the lobby and there were a lot more zombies around than there were the night before.

She was also alone this time. Sure, she had taken part in a sneaking mission earlier that day when she went out of town to scope out the camp where Paul Williams was near and got pictures of. However, she had support from both Paul and Simpson. It was also around this time the night before when the zombies started swarming around the area.

She checked her gun to see how many bullets were left, and then looked inside her purse to see how many clips she had left.

_Damn, I have only one clip left?_ She thought. _I guess I'll have to find some other things to use._

It brought to light at that point that she was mainly reliant on firearms to use in combat at that point. But because she was running low, she realized that she needed to find other means to defend herself. Nonetheless, she had to make use with what she had then, when a zombie had approached her and she had drawn her weapon and shot it right in the head.

"Hello, is anyone there?" A voice said as soon as the gunshot was heard.

"Kent? Is that you?" Ana said. "Where are you?"

"Wait, how do you know my name?" the voice said. "Come over here, I am in the maintenance room, whoever you are."

Ana walked around and found the maintenance room with the door closed. She opened the door and saw the same man from the video sitting on the floor. He looked like a total mess, like he had been there since the day before.

"Ana, you're alive!" he said.

"Kent, I am surprised that you're alive, too," Ana said. "How are you still alive?"

"Well, I got caught in here last night before I was about to head out," Kent said. "When I was able to get out, I saw all these zombies out there, and then I heard some gunfire at some point and didn't want to get caught up."

When he said gunfire, Ana wondered if he meant what she and Andy did in the lobby the previous night. She realized that she could have taken him with them, but didn't know that he was in the maintenance room. She even thought that Teresa, the hotel maid she found, was found out of pure luck, for both herself and the maid. If only she was not there in time, who knew what could have happened to Teresa?

"Hey, it's not safe for you here," Ana said. "I can take you somewhere safe."

"Can you tell me what's going here?" Kent said.

"Look, there are a lot of zombies out there, and I know a place where you can be safe from all of this," Ana said.

Ana turned around and because the door was open, the zombies knew where to find some fresh meat nearby. Because of that, a zombie entered the maintenance room and Ana aimed her pistol right to the zombie's head and pulled the trigger. Kent was shocked at what he just saw, and then looked towards Ana.

"Who are you?" Kent said.

"You know who I am, but what you should know is that there is more than meets the eye," Ana said, as she extended her left hand out to help Kent up.

With her running low on ammo, she saw a sledgehammer lying around and then picked it up. _I got to use anything to survive now._

Kent picked up a broom that was there. It didn't seem like much help, but it was better than nothing. The two people exited into the lobby, and Ana swung the sledgehammer towards a zombie, only to see that she knocked down a couple of other zombies in the process. Out of the three that she knocked down, only two of them were killed, as one of them was moved a bit. Right before she turned around, she felt something grab her foot. She jumped a bit and then quickly turned around and swung the hammer downward towards the zombie's head as she smashed it as a lot of its blood and brains splattered all over the place.

Kent swung the broom. He hit a few of them, but it had no effect, until he swung the butt of the broom towards a zombie's head, only for it to break off. He then drove the broomstick towards the zombie's chest and pierced right through and out through its back. He then pulled it out and saw the zombie fall right down in front of him.

"Whoa, that was close," he said.

Ana killed a few more zombies with her sledgehammer until there was a clear path to make their getaway. "Let's go."

As soon as she got out of the lobby, and into the outside, she turned her attention in different directions to see which way she should go. With the hotel manager by her side, she was no longer flying solo on this.

"Hey, we'll find my car and I will get you to safety," Ana said.

"Look, how about if I help you out right now," Kent asked. "It's not safe for someone to be out here alone with a lot of zombies. I will cover you for right now."

"Okay, but if I come across something really dangerous, I will need for you step away for a bit," Ana said.

"Before we get going, you need to tell me what's going on," Kent said.

Ana sighed, "I am a federal agent. I was working at the hotel as a side job, and also to gain information on a case."

"Wait, you're a fed?" Kent was so shocked at what he was told. "Why did you lie to me about this?"

"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you that I was doing some undercover work," Ana said. "Look, I am trying to keep you alive right now. This isn't the time for this."

Kent was in no place to be angry at Ana for this, especially given the situation that they were in. It was all about survival at that point. Besides, Ana only omitted the information about her other job, not so much falsified it.

Either way, they had to keep their heads straight on this. Once they walked out of the hotel, Ana's cellphone rang. The screen read "Bruce Simpson," as it was Simpson trying to reach her.

"Hey, this is Ana, what's up?" she said.

"Ana, I just thought of something, why don't you try finding some records at the police station for that girl?" Simpson said.

Ana replied, "Well, I was thinking about hacking into the mainframe later on…"

Simpson interrupted her, "Look, we need to find SOMETHING on her. If Phenotrans had something on her and managed to locate her in this city, then there might be a chance that we can find her. It may have said that her name is different, but that could be a lie, too."

"Just one question, why did you call me on my phone?" she asked.

"I didn't want your two partners to hear this, are they with you?" Simpson said.

"No, they went to go check on something else," she said. She didn't mention that she had the hotel manager with her, mostly because it would be suggested that she should bring him back to the safe house, though that would have been the better choice to make at that point.

"I'll go take a look at a police station," she said. "I'll call you when I find something."

"Okay, but check out the station in North Shore," Simpson said. "I have a good feeling that they have a lot of records on people in the city."

Ana ended the call with Kent looking right at her.

"So what's going on?" Kent said.

"I have one question to ask you first," Ana said. "Can you handle yourself out here?"

"Well, I have never experienced something like this before, but I think I can do this," Kent said.

"I'll keep my eye on you," Ana said. "I have to go find something at the nearest police station."

"I think I can take you to the closest one to here," Kent said. "Let's take my car instead."

The two bolted through the zombie traffic as they ran through them in the lobby. Kent led the way into the parking garage and he then got out of his keys and clicked the switch to unlock the doors. He suggested that he would drive this time, as he knew where to find a police station to find some information.

* * *

**LATER, SOMEWHERE IN NORTH SHORE**

**9:34 PM**

Kent had driven Ana around the city. He had crossed into another district that was over a causeway bridge. However, they reached a point where some living people with weapons were patrolling the area. Ana noticed a Phenotrans truck nearby, as well as some other members of the Caribbean Boyz strolling around. It seemed that that those guys had an axe to grind with Ana, along with Andy and Tammy, whom weren't with her at that point.

After a half hour, they got out of Kent's car. Sure, it was likely that they would encounter the undead, but they needed to keep themselves out of sight of any threats among the living, whom could likely shoot through the car windows, or even try to blow them up.

It was after 9 at night, as it had now been more than a full 24 hours since the outbreak began, not to mention that the day was almost over. Ana had to lead the way this time. She only had one person to back her up at that point, and though he had been quite a help for her, she felt that he would not stand a chance against gun-toting mercenaries and gangsters.

They had found a precinct that they could try to look through for any files. But something was seen through Ana's eyes that she did not expect. When she took a glance, she quickly hid behind the corner of a wall and signaled to Kent to stand behind her. She slowly creeped along the wall and peeked over the wall and saw a familiar face.

"Okay, guys, we need to find a few people," the man said, who was wearing dark clothes and a hat, and a hulking physique, and was also holding an assault rifle. "Mr. Walters doesn't want any fuckups on this job. We need to find that pussy scientist, and that one girl who he went with. I was also told about some others, but our guy wasn't clear on it. He should be here any minute. He told his 'partner' he needed to make a call."

The man in question was revealed to be Mr. Tyler, the same mercenary who was at the camp earlier that day when Ana infiltrated it and got the video of the meeting, as well as when that one scientist turned into a zombie at the hands of the treacherous Mr. Walters.

"Oh shit," Ana whispered.

She turned to face Kent, "Hey, I will need you to stay out of sight for a bit. If I need your help, I will call you on your cell and you will have to find me."

She handed him the sledgehammer that she was using so that he could protect himself.

"I'll be back, don't worry," she said.

A male voice was heard nearby. "Hey, do you know any safe places for us to go? My wife and I need help fast."

Tyler got out his rifle. "Any place is safer than here, so if you don't go away right now, you will get a few rounds in your system."

"Look, I just want to get somewhere safe," the man said. "My wife is not doing well."

The woman looked like she was in bad condition, like she may have been bitten or shot.

"I can take care of that for you," Tyler said, as he drew his rifle and fired bullets right at her with blood shedding right out of her chest as her husband watched in horror.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" The man said. "She was only sick with a fever, you son of a bitch!" He then punched Tyler and then kneeled right before his wife's now-dead body.

Tyler then approached the man and pulled out a knife and then sliced the man's throat, as his body dropped right over his wife's body. Ana looked on in horror and shock. She may have seen some crazy stuff throughout the day and taken a few lives in the process, but these two people were innocent and were killed for no reason. She took a deep breath, as an opportunity to break for it was right in front of her with Tyler and the other mercs standing with him over the dead couple. She could have saved them from suffering that fate, she could risk trying to stand up to them, but doing those would likely cause her to end up like that couple. She ran, but had to keep it quiet to be subtle. Unfortunately, one of the mercenaries turned around and noticed that from under the light in the entrance way, she entered the station.

"Hey, I see someone," the man said. "It looked like a girl and she entered the station."

As soon as she entered the station, she headed straight for the staircase. The last place she wanted to look was behind her, as she knew it would draw more attention on her that she unknowingly had. When she got to the middle of the staircase, she turned around and noticed the team of mercenaries heading towards the station, but because it was dark, she noticed that they did not look directly at her.

"Oh, fuck me," she said. She continued to go up the stairs and found an area with desks. There was no time to see if it was the homicide division, robbery division, or anything like that. She just needed to get into the system somehow or at least find a hard copy of the person's file. She also thought that she could use this time to find some ammunition.

Voices were heard from downstairs, as one voice said to look one way, and another voice said to look another way. She was trapped, but she was not screwed, as she figured that she could get out of there alive in some way.

It was dark in the building, but lucky for her, her phone had a built-in flashlight. She turned it on to look for a filing cabinet or a computer for her to use. Her phone also had an app on there to use for hacking purposes. She looked around and found a computer on desk.

_Well, I have no time to lose._ She thought and then went towards the first computer saw, but then she realized that the light from the monitor would draw attention, so she moved to the farthest one in the area. Once she got to it, she started it up and connected her phone, and opened up the app. The computer got to the login screen and started up the hack. Several mercenaries walked around and Ana got out her pistol. She remembered that she had an extra clip. It was not enough to last against them, but it was better than being unarmed in that situation. She shut off the monitor and then couple of mercs had entered the area she was in. She had to sneak away to get out of sight, but had to look at her phone to see how far along she was in breaking the code. Once it hit 100 percent, the two mercenaries had walked out of there and when they were far away, she went on the computer and opened up the database.

She entered the name "Mary Mitchell" to see what she could find and there was more than one match. She had to look closely at birthdates and ages, maybe even something that could be a sign that it may not be her real name at all. One match stated that she was born in 1991. She had opened it up and a mugshot was on display. However, the picture depicted a Hispanic girl, possibly of Mexican descent. The mugshot that was shown also had her facing to her left. Ana took a closer look and noticed the number 40 under her right ear. Ana had seen tattoos in different parts of a person's anatomy, especially some under a person's ear, but the tattoo was a number, as it left her wondering what it could possibly symbolize.

She then went back to the match search and found that the other Mary Mitchells were arrested but on false charges, but the one that matched the description on the file she saw earlier had some evidence against her, with one saying that she had a link to Mendoza.

_There is something fishy about all of this._ She thought. _I need to find her, and make sure she is still in the city before Phenotrans finds her. Also, did she really work with Mendoza? I can't imagine._

She then got out her flash drive and plugged it into the USB port. Once it read, she copied the file onto it. It took only a minute, and from a close distance, she noticed that someone stood by the doorway. She ejected her drive and then shut the computer off and hid her drive in a pocket of her pants that had a button so that she wouldn't lose it.

A dark silhouette emerged from the darkness and some glare from a window brought more visibility to one of the mercenaries who slowly walked towards Ana. Trapped was one way of describing her current state. She knew that if she tried to shoot the guy, the gunfire would bring more attention onto her and she would be done in a quick minute. Out of the corner of her left eye were a fire drill switch and a case with a fire axe and a fire extinguisher. Breaking the glass to get the axe would make some noise, until she saw a paper clip on a desk. Once she picked it up, she crawled towards the case on the wall and picked the lock with the clip. After only three tries, she finally got it open and then grabbed the axe.

There was no choice for her but to hide behind another desk that was adjacent to the wall. From her left, an armed man walked towards her direction. She then raised the axe and as he got closer, she quickly swung it towards his gut, and then got to her feet and then swung it downwards to his back as he was bent over. She picked up the rifle he was holding and was ready to get out of there. But right in front of her was another mercenary, who then opened fire but she quickly got out of sight, but didn't go very far. The same merc saw her and was ready to shoot her again, but Ana quickly squeezed the trigger and shot the guy dead. All of the discretion had now gone out the window.

Meanwhile, from outside, Kent looked over the wall and noticed that all of the mercenaries were gone, but there was a younger man out there with a walkie-talkie in hand. He was dressed in uniform, but did not look like any of the guys who were out there before. Kent ran to him.

"Excuse me, sir, my friend is in trouble in there," Kent said.

The younger man turned out to be Simon. "Whoa, what's going on?"

"I don't know, but I heard gunfire and I need for you to see what's going on in there," Kent said. "If you don't do it, I will."

Kent wondered why the agent did not go in there at that moment, but the fact that a fellow coworker and someone who he respected was in there, he quickly ran in with the hammer in hand.

"Sir, wait," Simon said.

"Gates, there you are," said a voice from a distance.

Simon turned around and noticed that Brad and a few fellow agents were walking towards him. "What the hell is going on?"

"I, I needed to scope out some other areas," Simon said.

"Well, you need to stay with your team," Brad said. "You can't just take off like that. You have orders to follow."

Inside, Kent heard more gunshots coming from upstairs. It would be wise for him to stay out of sight, but because Ana was outnumbered, he wanted to go help her anyway, even if he was deceived by her.

He looked around and noticed the gunfire had stopped. All of the gunfire had come from the left side of the upstairs area. Though it was dark, he saw Ana slowly walking around with her rifle drawn.

"Ana, is that you?" Kent said.

Ana turned around, "Kent, what are you doing here? It's dangerous."

"I got worried," Kent said. "I think that's all of them. Let's get out of here."

They walked down the stairs, but to her right, Ana noticed Tyler walking around and got out his radio.

"Oh shit," she said under her breath.

"Hey, did you find her?" Tyler said. "I heard some shots." No answer. "Can you read me? Did you find the girl and take her out?"

Ana dropped her rifle, "Hey, Kent, give me that hammer. I have an idea."

Kent handed her the sledgehammer and went back to the other side of the second floor and picked up the fire axe that she had before, and then walked into another area where there a case with a fire axe and also found some duct tape. She put the sledgehammer down and hooked the ends of the axes on top of the end of the hammer. She rolled a lot of tape around and made herself a weapon called a Defiler. She handed an extinguisher to Kent.

"Hey, on my signal, you start spraying him and I will get close to him," Ana said.

"You got it, Ana," Kent said.

Ana put the Defiler down, because she thought that it would be useful later on, and then picked up the rifle once again. Tyler stood by himself in the lobby area as Ana slowly creeped up to him with the gun drawn and signaled Kent to start spraying towards him.

"What the fuck?" Tyler yelled, but as things cleared up, he was met with a barrel of gun right to his face.

"How did you know where to go?" Ana said. "Who told you?"

Tyler looked at her and laughed. "You think I'm scared of a bitch like you. You don't have the balls."

"Tell that to your guys," Ana said. "Good luck with that, because they're dead."

Tyler was clearly not fazed by what she said, as he laughed right in her face.

"You're that girl from earlier, aren't you?" Tyler said. "I thought I would find you out here."

"If you want to kill me, be my guest."

Deep down, Ana knew that what she just said was just suicidal and a bad move overall, but better she go down than anybody else who was not involved. Kent hid somewhere so that he could stay out of sight.

"Nah, shooting you would be too easy, I think I'll have some fun," Tyler sneered at Ana and then punched her in the face and she fell to the ground. "You see, I'd rather just kill someone slowly, that way they'll feel it when they die."

Kent saw from a distance and then saw the weapon that Ana built.

Ana crawled a bit, but Tyler kicked her while she was down, but when he tried to kick again, she rolled over and quickly got up.

_This is a bad idea, but I'll do whatever it takes._ She thought.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: RUSS TYLER**

Tyler tried to punch her again and again, but Ana quickly dodged his attacks and then punched him in the stomach as hard as she could and then delivered an uppercut. Though she was a lot smaller than this guy, she still managed to pack a punch, literally, but it had little effect on him as he charged towards her ready to tackle her, but she quickly got out of the way.

Tyler may have had a size and power advantage over her, but Ana was quick and she used that to her advantage. She ran upstairs and Tyler followed her up there. Kent got out of the shadows with the combo weapon and followed them without their knowledge.

"Where are you, you bitch?" Tyler yelled.

Ana hid in a shadow and then jumped out and right onto him. His back was to the floor, and Ana punched him three times in the face and then put her fingers to his eyes to an agonizing scream from him.

While still on the floor, Tyler raised his hands and grabbed her by the neck, and then got to his feet. He held her off the ground and then chokeslammed her right to the floor. He still gripped his hands around her neck, only to feel a major hit to the groin, as Ana kicked him down there. As soon as she was released, she kicked him a few times while he was down.

Furious at what just happened, Tyler charged towards her again and then grabbed her to run her against the wall. The impact hurt Ana a bit, but she had wrapped her left arm around his neck, and then elbowed him in the back hard. She saw a locker to her right. He was about to get on his feet while she still held onto him, and then kicked her right foot towards the locker and caused Russ to spin his body around and she fell backwards and drove his head right into the floor. In other words, she did a Tornado DDT. She then slid her body backwards to get up.

_I guess those years of watching wrestling with my brother have paid off._

Much to her shock, the locker door was open, as some weapons were seen hanging in there. She quickly picked up a nightstick and a can of mace. When Tyler got to his feet, Ana sprayed right into his eyes and then whacked him in the face with the nightstick and fell onto his knees.

"Had enough, asshole?" Ana looked at him on the floor. "I have a question for you. Do you know anything about Mary Mitchell?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, woman?" Ana said.

She grabbed him by the jaw. "Don't fucking play dumb with me! What is your deal with Mendoza and who is Mary Mitchell?"

"You think I will tell you? I don't know a lot, you'll have to talk to Walters about that, but you won't do it anyway," Tyler said.

He then got up and then picked her up and threw her to the wall. It was clear that she was in pain, but he was not done with her yet. He walked up and then picked her up and then put her back against the wall and gripped her neck once again, so hard that she could not breathe and she gagged from the pain. But that was not enough for him, as he reached for his knife.

"You won't say shit, because I won't let you," Tyler said.

He raised his right hand ready to stab her, but then felt something hit his back and then released Ana. Agony was on full display on his face, but he turned around, only to see that Kent was holding the Defiler. There was no time for him to say anything, as Tyler picked up the knife from the ground. Kent swung the weapon again, but considering how shaken he was, Tyler blocked the attack by grabbing it and throwing it to the ground. Ana saw another weapon lying around and grabbed it. Just when Tyler was about to attack Kent, he fell down, as Ana shocked him with a taser, the kind with the wire that sticks to a person's body.

Ana slowly got to her feet and then kicked Tyler and then stomped on him, too.

"Thank you…Kent," she slowly said.

"Damn, what happened?" Kent said.

"I got into a fight," Ana said.

From a distance, Brad Park had walked in with a few fellow ZDC agents, including Simon.

"Hey, Torres, isn't it?" Brad said.

"Yes, it is me," Ana said.

"Are you okay?" Brad asked.

"I'll be fine," Ana said.

As they walked away, Tyler got up once again with his pistol this time, but Ana quickly reacted and picked up the Defiler. Before he drew his weapon to shoot her, Ana quickly clocked him right in the face with her weapon. He did not move at all after that, nor did it seem like he was breathing.

_Wait, where did Park and Gates come from? How did they know where to find me?_

* * *

**NEARBY IN NORTH SHORE**

**10:12 PM**

Andy drove around with Tammy and Deidre at that point and a call came onto their radios. Andy answered the call on his earpiece.

"Hey, what's going on?" Andy said.

"Andy, this Agent Simpson, Ana's partner," he said. "Have you talked to her at all?"

"I haven't talked to her in about two hours, what's up?" Andy said.

"I needed her to go to a police station to find some stuff on that girl," Simpson said. "She was supposed to contact me when she got it."

"Do you know which station?" Andy asked.

"I told her to check out the North Shore precinct," Simpson said.

It then occurred to him that Ana was not far from where he and Tammy were.

"I'll see what is up," Andy said. "Why don't you try calling her as well?"

"I'll do that, but I am caught up right now trying to look for some resources with some other agents," Simpson said. "But I'll be sure to call her."

"Okay, cool," Andy said and then ended the call.

"What was that about?" Tammy said.

"It seemed that Ana was supposed to go find something at a police station," Andy said. "Hey, Deidre, do you know of any police stations around here?"

"Why? Because I'm dressed like a cop?" Deidre sarcastically replied.

"I'm serious, you live in this city, right?" Andy said. "It seems that my friend went to check out a precinct to find something. The guy who I talked to said that she is close by."

"I'll give you directions," Deidre said.

It was only a short time until Andy got to the station where Ana was.

"Oh my god, is that Ana?" Tammy saw her being helped by someone as they were making their exit.

Andy looked over and saw that she looked beat up a bit. "Holy shit, what the hell happened to her?"

He pulled the car over and all three people got out of the car and approached Kent, who had Ana's arm over his shoulder, while the ZDC agents drew their guns to keep the zombies at bay.

"Jesus, Ana, you look like hell," Tammy said.

"I got into a fight with someone," Ana said. "But I'll be okay. Just drop me and Kent off at my car. It still parked by the restaurant we were at earlier."

All five people entered the car. Tammy rode shotgun while Andy drove, Ana sat in between Kent and Deidre.

"Hello, Kent," Deidre said in a flirty tone.

"Oh, hello, Officer Sanchez," Kent said in a surprised tone.

Tammy turned around. "Officer Sanchez? Am I missing something?"

"Oh, Kent here is one of my best customers," Deidre said as she looked at Tammy, and then faced Kent. "Isn't that right?"

Kent smiled and turned red.

Andy turned around and looked at Ana. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Look, I just got into a brutal scuffle, but I think I'm long overdue for a rest," Ana said. "There is one thing that got me though. Those ZDC agents found me, and I had not talked to them."

Kent added. "I saw the younger guy not long after those mooks went inside to try to take you out."

Ana turned towards Kent, "Wait, you saw him alone and then the other agents just showed up?"

"Yeah, but there was something really off about that younger guy," Kent said. "Why would he be alone and away from his crew? Plus, he seemed like he just ran off on his own without telling anyone."

Tammy sat there in silence with a lot of things going on through her mind. I am not surprised about Simon. That guy always got into stupid shit. I don't trust him one bit.

Nearly a half hour had passed as Andy had to drive through hordes of zombies and road blocks on the causeway bridge and then found themselves back in Palm Tree Beach. He turned towards the direction to the restaurant that they were at, Hamburger Fiefdom, and then saw Ana's SUV parked right there, unscathed no less.

He stopped the car, and the first thing that got out of his mouth was, "Ana, when you get back, go get some sleep. We will take care more of this tomorrow morning."

"I am way ahead of you," Ana said.

Kent got out of the car with Ana right behind him. Kent suggested that he will drive them to the safe house, as long as Ana navigated for him.

Andy and Tammy looked at her. It did not matter to Andy how long it had been since they had spoken, he knew that deep down he still cared about her. Maybe not in the same way when they dated during their teen years, as he was very much in love with Tammy, but still cared about her a lot.

"Hey, Andy," Tammy said. "The night is young. Let's make this night memorable. We're on vacation, remember?"

"You're right, baby," Andy said, and then turned towards Deidre. "Are you up to doing this?"

"Papi, I am down for anything, I'll help you guys out in this," Deidre said.

"Okay, sounds good," Andy said, and then put the car in drive and they were off.

**September 27th**

**11:01 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**60:58:12**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight sequence was inspired by the fight between Nick and Hilde from Dead Rising 3.


	14. Marked (Part 1)

**September 28th**

**6:31 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**53:28:03**

It was now after six in the morning and Ana woke up from her much-needed sleep. There was no denying how much she really needed it after having been awake for almost two days, as she did not get any sleep after the outbreak had started the night before.

But really, the rest was also necessary after having gone through the brutal scuffle against Russ Tyler, who appeared to be the bodyguard of the man who was heading the operation of the outbreak, Mr. Walters. However, the fact that she finished him off raised some concern as she didn't get enough information that she needed. On the plus side, she got the file of Mary Mitchell, who may or may not be in grave danger at that very moment.

Once she got herself up, she felt a slight pain in her midsection. The fight that she went through was clearly no picnic for her. Though she showed that she knew some hand-to-hand skills, this guy was clearly bigger and stronger than her. It would be an understatement to say that she got lucky in taking him down, but at least she wasn't hurt enough not to do anything.

She got out of the bed and put her hand on her back and also her right side. She then started to unbutton her blouse that she was wearing and then took it off. She walked over to the mirror that was in the room as she stood there shirtless, but was still wearing a bra. She turned around and noticed some bruises on her skin. Though she felt some pain, she wasn't put out of commission.

_I think I may need to take it a little easy, at least until some of the pain goes away._ She thought.

She then approached a closet and looked to find some other clothes for her to wear. She realized that she had spent a lot of time in her hotel uniform, even when she was out there helping Andy and Tammy, whom were also helping her. If anything, they all helped each other. What was also good for her was that he boss at the hotel was also some help to her.

She had only been working as a field agent for six months up to that point. It was a major step-up from her having been a computer technician. Though there were moments that she felt fear and concern, she had to display some courage out there, even if things were to get heavy on her. She got involved in a case to try to track down a wanted drug lord, then came the zombie outbreak, and now after having been told that the company behind making a drug that helps infected people slow down the turning process was working with said criminal, things got even heavier for her.

She walked out of the room she was in and Simpson looked up as he noticed her walking.

"Ana, you're awake, are you feeling better?" Simpson said.

"I am a little better, I just need to wait for the aching to stop," Ana said. "Are Andy and Tammy back yet?"

"No, they're still out there," Simpson said. "I will call them to come back soon, especially since the same ZDC agents are coming by in a little bit for us to discuss some things."

Ana sighed a bit when she heard him say ZDC agents. "Now that you mention it, there is something off about one of those agents," Ana said.

"What do you mean?" Simpson said.

"Kent, my boss from the hotel, he told me that after I went into the police station to go search the place, that Agent Gates was there alone but didn't go in to investigate," Ana said. "It seemed that when Park arrived with some other, they all went in. Kent went in to help me when I dealt with that Phenotrans bodyguard or whatever he was. I have a weird feeling about this."

"Maybe this guy is new at his job or something," Simpson said. "He seems like he is around your age."

"Perhaps," she said. "I may be one of the youngest field agents, if not the youngest here involved in this case, but I am rather competent at my job, whether it's being out there or in front of a computer screen. From what I saw, he seems to ditch his partner and go off on his own. It even made me wonder how they even knew that I was in the police station last night, or what they were even doing there to begin with. At least Park helped me a bit."

"Look, they are not our problem, but if anything else happens, we will let the head of the ZDC operation know," Simpson said.

Ana stood there with a look of skepticism after having been told that. She was aware of how young she was, and when she saw Tammy interacting with that guy, it appeared that he was immature, but what she had been told had little to do with immaturity. No, it was different. It could be a sign of competence at his job, or very little competence at it. Little was known about him and she may be wrong in this case, but it would be wrong to say that she trusts this guy.

"One more thing, I got the file on the girl that Phenotrans is after," Ana said. "I have it saved onto my thumb drive."

"That's great, what did you find?" Simpson said.

"There was something weird about her file," Ana said. "I looked at it and was said that she was working with Mendoza and that the arrest was made sometime recently. Also, it seemed that she was placed on house arrest. I also noticed on her mugshot that she has a tattoo of the number 40 under her right ear."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Simpson said.

"It didn't look like a tattoo that symbolized anything, but rather that it was written when she was given it," Ana said. "Like if someone was to write a number with a pen, but maybe this was done with the needle or whatever was used to have it down, like maybe she was number 40 of something."

"Maybe she had pride in her days of being on a high school sports team," Simpson said.

"I suppose," Ana said, though on the inside, there was more than met the eye. Sure, it is plausible for someone to take pride in jersey numbers and whatnot, but something told her that the tattoo meant something else, especially because she was arrested, and also that Phenotrans is looking for her. The number would look different if she were priding in a jersey number.

* * *

**MEANWHILE, OUT IN PALM TREE CITY**

**7:12 AM**

Andy and Tammy, along with Deidre, were out all night which broke into the morning to see if they not only could find other living people out there, but also kill any zombie who got in their way.

Deidre seemed to have shown that she was capable of dealing with zombies. For some reason, she was still wearing a certain perfume that for some reason, zombies can't stand the smell of, which even applied to the other strippers that were taken to safety. When Andy and Tammy arrived to the strip club the previous night, the couple was surprised at how zombies just continued to walk around and not try to eat the two women. Even though it was hours later, the smell remained on Deidre's body, but who knew when the smell would wear off?

Along the way, Andy saw a comic book store, and the trio then went inside to take a breather and to keep safe before anything happens. At some point, Andy noticed a few flyers lying around with advertisements for events that were supposed to take place that weekend.

The one that stood out to him was a flyer for a convention that was supposed to go on that weekend. On the flyer for the convention, there pictures of who were supposed to be there. The main attraction had a picture of a fit and muscular professional wrestler who had long brown hair and an attractive brunette woman by his side who had tattoos on her arms. The picture depicted the woman admiring and embracing the buff man. Under the picture, the name card read "Gary 'the Ax' Finkel and his valet and wife, the lovely Sweet Rhonda." Another part of the flyer read cosplay contests, as well as an appearance from a professional gamer named Eric Masters. Another couple of flyers had ads for a live performance at a club from Angel Lust, a metal band whom also had survived the Fortune City outbreak.

Another flyer was for a show at a comedy club, with one of the opening acts being Royce St. John, another person who also survived Fortune's End.

From a distance, the two ladies turned around and noticed that Andy was rather albeit very distracted. Tammy approached him.

"Hey, Andy, what are you doing?" Tammy said.

Andy jumped when he heard his girlfriend's voice and turned to face her. "Oh, sorry, I was a bit distracted. I found something."

Tammy approached him and turned her attention to the flyer on the door.

"So, what's the deal?" Tammy said. "This isn't the time for any of this."

"Look, it's possible that some of these people are here in the city and haven't gotten bitten," Andy said. "I also wonder if some of these people had gotten here before the outbreak began."

Tammy came to a realization that she had witnessed something like this.

"You know, you might have a point," Tammy said. "Yesterday, Ana and I rescued those beach volleyball players, whom weren't even informed of the cancelation of their tournament. What surprised me was that one of them managed to clear away some zombies by doing a hard serve. Then again, I did the same thing."

The two paused for a second.

"Well, I am also a fan of Gary Finkel and I would like to meet him," Andy said. "Or was it that I had a crush on Sweet Rhonda? It seemed that my focus was on her when I watched a Gary Finkel match."

Tammy shook her head and scoffed and then tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, come on, I was kidding," Andy said. "Besides, you are my Sweet Rhonda, anyway."

Deidre was looking out the windows and noticed some zombies crowding around the store that they were in. Some zombies even put their hands against the windows and then snarled at the trio.

"Um, guys, we have company," Deidre said as she turned around towards them.

Andy and Tammy turned their attentions towards the windows, but surprisingly, none of them were close to the door. Tammy got up with her shotgun axe. Throughout the entire night that they were out and about, she reloaded on the shells. She slowly approached the door with the weapon drawn while Andy looked on with some concern. It didn't matter if she had been involved in the action; his greatest fear was her getting bitten and turning into a zombie. Sure, he was man enough to face zombies and such, but also maintained a fear about them, mostly because he was afraid of Tammy becoming one. Those nightmares had quite an effect on him.

Andy got up and got his barbed wire bat out in case something was to happen to her. Deidre got out an axe that she had been using up to that moment. Tammy slowly opened the door and to her left, a zombie closed in her as she jumped and screamed. Andy quickly pulled her back inside when that happened. The zombie was too close for comfort that she could have easily been bit. The door remained open, however, but once Andy released Tammy, she drew her weapon again but whacked it with the axe side in the chest, which knocked it outside, but didn't kill it. The zombie was one the ground with its mouth open, and Tammy turned the weapon over with the shotgun heading towards the zombie's open mouth. Once it got inside, she pulled the trigger and the zombie's head exploded with the blood and brains splattering all over the ground.

"You know, I think we should get going," Tammy said.

"You're right, angel, let's get out of here," Andy said.

Before they got going, Andy picked up the flyers in case they needed to check the places. It was possible that some people had come to Palm Tree City for those events and had not canceled, or had not been informed of the cancelations.

Once they got out of the store, Andy had gotten a call on his earpiece. He answered the call as they looked around for another car to use. The car that Andy used before broke down at some point.

"Hey, what's up?" Andy said.

"Andy, this is Ana."

"Hey, what's going on, how are you feeling?"

"I'm better, but I'm still somewhat in pain," Ana said. "Anyway, Simpson wants you all to come back. Some of those ZDC agents are coming for a meeting."

"We'll be right there," he said, and hung up, and turned towards the ladies. "Hey, we have to go back to base now."

All three people walked closely together, even though there was a large group of zombies nearby. As they walked, several zombies tried to grab each of them from behind, but then gunshots were heard as three zombies that were walking behind them all fell to the ground face down with gunshot wounds in the back of their heads.

"What the hell…was that?" Andy looked around in shock. "Let's get going now!"

Andy and the two ladies ran towards a pickup truck that was parked on the side of the street. All three of them got in and Andy started the truck and put it in drive and hit the gas so that they could get out of there.

"What just happened?" Tammy said to Andy. "Was it those gang members again?"

"I think it was a sniper," Andy said.

"Wait, gang members, what are you talking about?" Deidre said.

Tammy turned around towards Deidre, "We dealt with some gang members yesterday. They were pretty ruthless."

Then it hit Deidre, "Wait, are you talking about the Caribbean Boyz?"

"Do you know them?" Andy said.

"Yeah, they cause a lot of shit around here," Deidre said. "They sometimes harass random people for fun."

"Well, it seemed a little different yesterday," Andy said. "But I don't think it was them who shot the zombies. For all we know, they're helping us out."

As they pulled away, from a rooftop that appeared to be on one of the hotels on the beach resort were three women. One appeared to be in her early 50s, while the other two looked like they were in their early 20s. Two of the women were Caucasian, like they could be mother and daughter, while the other one looked Hispanic and was wearing a hat and had a bandage under right ear.

"Great work, girls," said the older woman.

"Thanks, Mom, but we could have shot those three people," said the daughter. "They were so close. We could have waited until they were a bit further."

"Erin," the older woman said. "I know what you mean, but sometimes you can't do anything. Besides, your father always taught us the ways of survival. Remember when we used to all go hunting? Your father and your brothers died trying to survive the Willamette outbreak. I still wonder if they died at the hands of zombies or a person. It's hard to tell these days if anybody is crooked or not."

"Yeah, Mom, but I don't feel good about shooting innocent people," Erin said. "I miss Dad, Jack, and Thomas, too. I think about them all the time, but it's been seven years and while I agree about trying to survive this outbreak, I don't feel good about shooting people."

"Don't try to downplay your father and brothers' deaths! They died trying to survive and we weren't there to help them or anything!" she yelled. "If Roger were here, along with Jack and Thomas, we would all be safe and we wouldn't be in all this mess. Your dad was great at hunting. We're also trying to carry the Hall family tradition."

Erin looked at her mother Sheryl with skepticism. She knew where she was coming from, but the fact it had been years since the deaths of her brothers and father in the Willamette outbreak, it made her wonder if her own mother was going crazy because of the outbreak. She missed her father and her brothers dearly, but this seemed to be in a different level.

_If Dad, Jack, and Thomas were all here, we would not have moved out here._ She thought, though some good had come out of it as at some point, she met someone who became something of a sister to her.

"Well, Maria over there seems like a natural at this," the older woman said. "Isn't that right?"

Maria moved her face from the scope after having heard her name and it brought her back to reality.

"Yes, Sheryl, I think this is the way of survival," she said with a Spanish accent, but was articulate with her English, like she had lived in the states for a long time enough to pick up English well.

As Maria looked through the scope, she saw some guys dressed in black wielding guns. She looked with some shock on her face, enough that she shot one of them dead.

* * *

**THE MENDOZA MANSION**

**8:03 AM**

The trio had made their way back to base. Once they walked through the door, they noticed Simon and Brad talking with Ana and Simpson.

"Hey, so what's going on?" Andy said.

Simpson heard Andy and turned towards him, "Oh, we were just talking about how Ana found some information last night. Oh, and have you met the ZDC agents here? This is Park and Gates."

Andy looked towards Simon, who looked directly at him. Tammy looked away, as she did not want to think about what could happen between those two. Although Simon had told her that he was over her earlier, something told her otherwise, and because her current boyfriend was in the presence of her dreaded ex, there was no telling what she felt in that moment.

"Hello, you must be Andy," Simon said as he extended his hand out.

"Yes, that's me," Andy said, as he extended his hand out to shake Simon's hand. "Tammy has told me a lot of things about you."

"I would certainly hope not," Simon sarcastically replied.

"Wait, is there something going on here?" Simpson said.

"No, it's nothing important," Simon said, and then got back to business. "What did you find?"

Ana told all of them about the information of Mary Mitchell that she found at the police station, and how she was recently arrested and placed under house arrest for some reason. Her suspicions were running wild about all of this, as if the girl was arrested with no evidence and was placed in preventive custody, rather than placed in jail. She also showed them a picture of her, which was her mugshot.

"I also noticed something weird about the tattoo she has," Ana said. "It looks like it was written on there, not so much a tattoo used for decoration, but that she was marked as number 40 for something."

Andy and Tammy opened their mouths and were shocked at what she just heard. Because both of them read "The Willamette Incident," Frank West, the author and journalist who covered the outbreak, had noted something about a list of orphans who were scattered all over the country. However, as suspicious as they were of this, neither of them can confirm this, but why else would Phenotrans need to find her? If she was one of the infected orphans, how has she not turned and started an outbreak by now? It's not like she was able to use the Zombrex drug because it didn't come out until 2007, the year after Willamette.

"Do you know where we can find her," Tammy asked.

Ana replied, "On her file, there was an address of her residence and…"

Then it hit her. The thought just sprung to mind as to why she was placed under house arrest to begin with. It was then she had to say, "We must find her as soon as fucking possible!"

Agent Simpson said, "Hey, I make the orders around here."

"You don't understand," Ana said. "I finally figured out her odd sentence. I think the people at Phenotrans set her up and they are bound to find her at that particular address."

"Give us the address and we'll look for her," Andy said.

"No," said Simon, who stood near him and interrupted. "You leave it to the professionals on this. You're nothing but a civilian who will only get killed and you have nothing to do with this."

"Oh come on, we're still here, we know what we're doing," Tammy said. "This isn't the first time we were in a zombie outbreak, but we know what we're doing out there."

"Yeah, right, you and your little boyfriend think you could just save everyone out there," Simon sarcastically said with so much condescension.

Andy cut in, "Hey, you don't talk to her that way!"

Simon got closer to Andy's face, and it was shown that Simon towered him by some inches.

"Who do you think you are, fool?" Simon said. "You're nobody. I bet you got bit earlier and you might even turn soon. Also, I bet you wouldn't want Tammy to get bit, right?"

"Shut up, Simon!" Tammy yelled. "Leave him alone!"

Andy looked at him with a fiery scowl on his face. Though Simon had a point, he had no right to even tell Andy anything, especially since he and Tammy had been assisting the feds on this case and rescuing survivors out there. But the condescension and disrespect was uncalled for as far as anyone was concerned, even Brad and Simpson.

Brad got closer to the two men. "That's enough, you two. Besides, it's not your call to say who can or can't help on this. It's Simpson's call."

Tammy added, "Andy and I have been out there looking for people to bring here that are still alive. Sure, we're no special agents or anything like that, but we have been quite a help to Ana and Agent Simpson. So who are you to say that we can't do anything? You're not in charge here."

_Oh, feisty one, aren't you, Tammy?_ Simon looked at Tammy with so much shock that there was mixed emotion. _Different than how I remember._

Agent Simpson added, "The young lady is right. I was iffy about these two helping us out before, but they've been quite a help to us. Torres vouched for Mr. Talbat at first. We can't have them not be involved now."

Brad looked at Simon with some disappointment. "That was uncalled for. You should apologize to that guy right now."

Simon took a deep breath and faced Andy. "Hey, I'm sorry about that. What I said was out of line. We have to work together on this."

Andy responded, "I accept your apology, but only because we have to work together."

Andy was unsure if he should trust Simon on this. What Tammy had told him about the guy was irrelevant, but Simon's behavior towards him was just uncalled for on different levels. Andy and Tammy may not be federal agents or anything like that, but they have survived the hell that Palm Tree City had become and it was only a matter of time until a rescue were to come, or at least a way to leave the city if certain paths on the nearby ocean weren't blocked off by the Coast Guard and Navy.

"I just have one thing that I need to say," Andy said. "While we were out there, I noticed some zombies getting shot by snipers."

"Snipers?" Simpson said. "That doesn't sound good."

Ana added, "I will stay here and keep a watchful eye on the feed with Paulson to see where the snipers might be coming from. I will also try to keep an eye on those thugs who tried to attack us earlier. It doesn't seem like they are going to quit. I need to recover for a bit."

Ana then looked towards the couple, "Hey, I need to talk to both of you right now. Follow me."

The ZDC agents and others were seen exiting the mansion, while Andy and Tammy followed Ana somewhere, which was somewhere a little quieter and away from everyone else.

Now that everyone was gone, especially the survivors who were saved, Ana couldn't wait to say what needed to be said.

"I don't trust that guy Gates at all," she said. "I noticed the way he talked to both of you, but also something just doesn't seem right about him."

Tammy added, "I don't trust him, either. I didn't like the way he talked to Andy, but what makes you so sure that he can't be trusted on this whole case?"

"Listen, to keep a long story short, he seemed like he abandoned his team at some point and happened to find me at the police station, and the way he was talking to Andy just didn't sit well with me," Ana said.

"I know, I wanted to slap him for doing that," Tammy said, and looked to Andy. "I noticed you got pissed when he said something about me."

"It is more than what you would think," Andy said to Tammy. "I love you so much that I can't let anything bad happen to you, and as much as I want to keep you safe, you have saved me and Ana a few times. We are all in this together and after this shit is done, everything will be better."

Ana replied, "It seemed like he really got under your skin with that remark about Tammy."

Andy stood there in silence as he tried to fight off some emotion, and then told Tammy to excuse herself for just a bit.

"Why, Andy?" she said.

"I just need a moment to tell Ana something," Andy said.

Tammy then walked away but turned around and noticed that Andy started to feel sad, even though it was clear that he was trying to fight it off. Tammy wanted to go back, but Ana signaled to her to walk away.

She was now gone, and Ana said, "Andy, what's wrong? You look like you're about to cry."

"It's time I told you this, the reason I don't want Tammy around is because of what I had told you recently," he said. "Before we went on this trip, I had been having nightmares about zombies. The one nightmare that really stood out to me was when that took place on our wedding day and a lot of people started turning into zombies, even Tammy. The dream ended when she turned into one and then was about to eat me. I also had another dream earlier about her turning into one again."

Ana had a shocked look on her face, "That's why you didn't want her around. Also, because you had planned on proposing to her, you didn't want to give her any ideas about that dream you had."

"I just don't want to see anybody I love die right in front of me," Andy said. "It happened in the Fortune City outbreak, sometime before I met Tammy. Do you remember my half-brother Adrian?"

"Yes, I do remember him," Ana said. "He looked just like you and if I remember, you two had the same dad but different mothers."

"I don't want to get into that, but he died at the start of the outbreak and I felt like it was my fault because I felt like I ditched him," Andy said. "I was so depressed those days that I was ready to end it all."

"And then you met Tammy," Ana said.

"Wait, how do you know?" Andy said.

"She told me how you two met, but she didn't say anything about your brother," Ana said.

"It's not something that I like to talk about," Andy said. "Sometime after we started dating, I told her, but she was able to see that it's a story that makes me sad. So even when telling others about how we got together, she leaves it out."

A tear trickled down Ana's eye after hearing that.

"I have something that I want to say, too," she said. "I never really got over you. Sure, I have dated here and there, but when you and Tammy arrived at the hotel a couple of days ago, it's like my feelings just came back, but I see that you love Tammy so much and that she also loves you. You two are blessed to have each other."

"I tell myself all the time that she is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me and everyone around me sees that," he said. "She even told me that I am the greatest thing that ever happened to her."

"Well, I also want you to know that it was my fault that it didn't work out for us all those years ago," Ana said. "I took the opportunity to go to the University of Miami and I just stayed here and just lost contact with you at some point, even though I did see you at times when I came home. Plus, I was a bit stubborn at times, but that was so long ago. But I still like to think of you as one of my best friends. I also think that when this is all over, I might go back to Carson City to visit my family."

"That would be a great thing for you to do," Andy said. "Also, I still plan on proposing to Tammy. I don't give a shit about the zombies. I am still going to pop the question, even if it's not on the day I planned, which was yesterday."

"Promise me that you'll invite me to the wedding," Ana said.

"If everything goes well, you might even be _in_ the wedding," Andy said.

Ana smiled at that and hugged Andy again. "You should get going now. She is waiting for you."

Andy took a deep breath and then walked back to his lady.

"Ready to go, beautiful?" Andy said to Tammy, who stood right by a wall and saw Andy walk up.

"Oh, I'm ready, handsome," Tammy said.

As they were walking away, the couple was approached by two people, who were Marcus and Deidre.

"Hey, you guys aren't going out there alone, are you?" Marcus said.

"No, we aren't, actually, you can join us," Tammy said. "We need all the help we can get. Besides, it's getting more dangerous that maybe we need more people involved."

Then out of nowhere came Gregory, along with Tomomi, who overheard them.

"We can help," Gregory said. "I'll try to keep a lookout for any of those gangsters who were after you. I dealt with some of them on the beach before."

"Alright then," Andy said. "Let's move."

Andy headed for the pickup truck that he took. The other survivors who joined them were armed with various weapons that they found in the armory in the house. Though Tomomi and Marcus said that they could use their hand-to-hand skills in combat, they felt it would be better to use other weapons in case things got messier.

Andy and Tammy rode in the front, while Deidre and Tomomi sat in the backseat, and Marcus and Gregory sat on the bed of the truck. There was no time to lose, as it was only a matter of time until someone catches that girl.

* * *

**September 28th**

**8:57 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**51:02:23**

They had finally gotten out of town and Andy realized that he forgot to ask Ana something. He got out his cell phone and texted her to ask what the address was. After only a few seconds, he received a reply that showed the address and then entered in into his GPS. Now it was time to follow the navigation on the map.

It appeared that their house was located in Little Santiago, which was where they were the previous morning and were ambushed. A lot of zombies were found on the streets, but along the way, Gregory and Marcus drew a couple of rifles that they took and started to fire away at the undead. Andy didn't want to make any stops, so he just kept going until he reached his destination. It didn't take long until they got to the house. All six people exited the vehicle and noticed that the front door was open.

"Shit, are we too late?" Andy said.

"Let's find out for ourselves," Tammy said.

The others stood outside to stand guard in case any zombies or other shady-looking people were to come by.

The couple entered the house and noticed that it had been ransacked. Tammy looked at some pictures that were on the wall and what confused her was that they were of Caucasian people who may have lived there. One picture that she saw had a husband and wife with two boys and one girl. The girl looked younger than the two boys, like if she was the baby of the family. However, another thing drew her attention.

"Hey, Andy, come and look at this," she said.

Andy walked up and saw a picture of the daughter with who appeared to be the girl from the mugshot. The girls looked like they were teens in the picture, as the daughter looked older than how she was in the family portrait that Tammy saw at first. She took a closer look and saw that same tattoo under her right ear. Though it was hard to make out what the number was, it matched the one that was seen in the picture.

Andy then turned around and saw something lying on the ground. It had a red light blinking and made a beeping sound, and had a band around it.

"Um, baby, I think I found something here," he said.

Tammy turned around and saw what was on the floor.

"Is that an ankle monitor?" she said.

"It seems that way," he said.

Footsteps were heard in the house and the two looked up.

"What the fuck is going on?" Andy said.

The footsteps got louder and closer and out from behind a wall stood one man dressed in black clothes with a pistol in his hand, along with a couple of other men with firearms dressed in casual wear with Cuban and Puerto Rican flags on their shirts.

_Holy shit._ Andy thought. _What the fuck is going on here?_

"Who the fuck are you?" Tammy said.

"Not important," said the man in black. "The question in my mind is why are you here."

"Not important, either," Andy said. "We just wondered if things were okay. My girlfriend and I are neighbors and wondered why the front door was open."

Tammy looked at him with so much concern. Andy knew that lying to them was a bad call, but he had only thought of that on the fly as he faced some armed men and that if anything else happened, they were goners. What was bad was that they left their weapons in the truck.

However, one of the gangsters leaned over to the more professional-looking man and whispered something in his ear. The man then nodded his head.

"You know, I think maybe you are at the right place now," The man sneeringly remarked. "One of our bosses told us about you."

"Wait, what?" Andy said.

"He said that you have been causing trouble for all of us," the man said. "But he said that a bonus was involved if we were to just take the girl and then kill you."

The man was not clear about what he meant by "the girl." Was he talking about Mary Mitchell? Or was he talking about Tammy? Even then, what would he want from Andy?

"Hey, the girl is not here, in case you're wondering," Tammy said.

"Who said anything about Number 40?" the man said. "We will find her soon, but now that you guys are here, it's the bonus round."

"What? What do you want from us?" Tammy said. "We don't know what you're talking about."

"We may have come here to get Number 40," the man said. "But now that you guys showed up, it got even better."

The man raised his gun and pointed it at Andy's face. He shook just by seeing the gun right in front of him. He was sweating all over his face, but he was ready to seal his fate one way or another. And then a gunshot was heard, but not from the gun in his face or even the other two men, but from behind him, as Gregory fired a warning shot with his pistol and then holstered it and got out his rifle as he stood in the doorway.

"Put the gun down," Gregory said.

"You're outnumbered, officer," the man said, with the two gang members having their weapons pointed at him, despite Gregory holding an even powerful weapon.

From behind, Deidre walked up and drew her pistol, and Marcus and Tomomi walked in as well with guns drawn. Though Tomomi was a martial artist and would rather use melee combat, this was a different situation.

"Now who's outnumbered?" Andy said.

The man and the two gang members didn't want to listen as they attempted to fire away, but Gregory, Marcus, Tomomi, and Deidre fired away at them and their bodies fell down onto the ground.

However, the man in black was still breathing as he lied there. Andy and Tammy walked up to him.

"Just tell me one thing, who ordered this so-called hit on me?" Andy said.

"He didn't say his name, but he sounded young, and apparently there is a price on your head," the man said.

"Who would want me dead?" Andy said.

"It's not clear, but maybe it's the leader of the Caribbean Boyz, Ricardo Colon," the man said. "He said that you all killed his men earlier."

The man then lost so much blood that he died right there.

It was clear that Andy was a marked man at that point, but what confused him was why keep Tammy alive. Though a gang member tried to assault her the previous day, it seemed a bit far-fetched to want to go after her and keep her alive.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Andy had to watch his back even more. The zombies were one problem, but now that there were people who were out to kill him for a contract, things escalated. He wasn't about to give up, though, as he was set to find out who did this.

Tammy looked at him as he looked down and then walked up to him.

"Baby, who would do this?" she said. "This is getting worse."

Andy then hugged her. "We will make it out of here, trust me."

The transceiver then rang in Andy's ear. "Hey, what's up?"

"Did you find the girl?" Ana said.

"No, she wasn't here, but something else was brought to my attention," Andy said. "Somebody must want me dead, because some people were here at this house and mentioned a contract on me."

"What? Why?" Ana said.

Andy replied, "No time to explain. We still need to find the girl, though. Tammy and I found some pictures in this house and it seemed that she may be connected to this family at some capacity. The ankle bracelet was found on the floor."

Tammy then noticed something on the floor as well: a cellphone. The battery was at a decent percentage. On the main screen, it read "Maria's Telephone." The picture on the cover page also had her with the two women that she saw on the portraits, though the older woman looked older than she was in the family portrait with the three guys. The name was Maria, not Mary, but there was a hunch that she had that maybe one of the names may have been real. After getting a look of the mugshot from earlier, it seemed that "Mary Mitchell" was a fake name.

"Um, Andy, I found something," Tammy said.

"Hold on, Ana, Tammy needs to say something," Andy said.

Tammy held up the phone, which seemingly belonged to the girl who they were searching for.

"Shit," Andy said. "Tammy showed me a phone that may belong to the girl. It seems she is trying to avoid being tracked down."

"Did you find any names of the people who live there?" Ana said.

Andy looked around and saw a couple of envelopes on a table. One was addressed to a Sheryl Hall and another to an Erin Hall.

"I found a couple of names," Andy said. "Can you try getting any records or something on Sheryl or Erin Hall?"

"I'll try, but if I do, I may need to send you an app to use to track their phone signals," Ana said. "I'll let you know if I find something."

"Please do this, it's only a matter of time until they get her," Andy said.

_Or if I am dead._ He thought.

"I'll get on it ASAP," Ana said and then hung up.

"Hey, Andy, I'm starting to think that the name on the file is fake," Tammy said. "The phone said Maria on there, but the pictures of the girl that I saw around her matched the description of what I saw on the mugshot."

"I am starting to feel the same way," Andy said. "Ana said that there might be a way to find her, though. We just have to wait."

Andy then got a notification on his cellphone that said to download the tracker app. He questioned the legality of it, but that wasn't important now. It was now time to track this girl down, before Phenotrans would get to her.

**September 28th**

**9:59 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**50:49:48**

**TO BE CONTINUED.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting you know, Sheryl and Erin are the widow and daughter of Roger Hall, respectively. Yes, Roger Hall, the sniper and his two sons in Dead Rising 1. We never knew what happened to his wife and I decided to put a daughter in, too.
> 
> Also, I made a reference to Adrian Lee, who was one of the victims at the start of Dead Rising 2. I had made him a brother to Andy. They had the same face model, so why make them brothers?


	15. Marked (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the previous chapter.

**September 28th**

**10:15 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**50:44:38**

It had only been a little more than 15 minutes since Andy, Tammy, and their crew had left the Hall residence to go find Mary Mitchell, or what she had been referred to as at this point.

What made things even more dangerous for the couple and their entourage was that Andy now had a price on his head. As far as he was concerned, he was nobody, at least when comparing himself to others such as Frank West and Chuck Greene, both of whom had handled matters in their respective outbreaks. Frank West gained notoriety after covering the Willamette Incident and writing a book based on it. While Chuck Greene may have been a motocross champion, he had also been framed for starting the outbreak in Fortune City. His main concern over anything else was that he wanted to keep his infected daughter safe. The whole outbreak known as Fortune's End was covered in a book written by his wife Stacey.

Andy, on the other hand, just wanted to go on a romantic vacation with his girlfriend and to also pop the question to her. But then he found his greatest fear and that was to see Tammy become a zombie, or get killed on this mission for that matter. That wasn't to say that he wasn't afraid of getting killed on this mission, either, but to him, it was better him than her.

Tammy was worried that Andy would regress to how he was when they first met, but so far, he had managed to keep his head straight, no matter how much zombies had affected him two years prior. She also feared that Andy would get killed in the process, but the last thing that either of them wanted to do was wait a few days before any sort of help were to arrive. Besides, the two had to watch each other to make sure certain things wouldn't happen.

The only other option that they had was to just stay at the safe zone for the next few days. However, Andy felt that the only way to get over his fear was to face it, and because he had been told about some things from that fortune teller previously, he had to be ready for anything. Tammy joined in on the ride because she needed to keep an eye on her boyfriend, and also to help out, even though this was a new thing for her. Andy hadn't shown signs of depression and trauma, but he now had a level of fear that someone wanted to kill him. In a situation like this, the best option would be to stay at the safe house, but he wanted to know who would want him dead and for what reason. He wasn't a journalist covering an outbreak, nor was he a once famous motocross champion who was framed. So many questions were on his mind at that moment.

As they drove around, Tammy looked at Andy's cellphone and used the app that Ana had sent him. What it was supposed to do was track down a cellphone signal for the people that Mary Mitchell was allegedly with. Then something hit Andy while he was driving.

"Hey, babe, I was wondering," Andy said. "Don't you think that we should get Ana or any of her fellow agents to look for her?"

Tammy turned her head to her left a bit, as the one thing that came to mind when Andy asked that was, "I have a bad feeling about this. While we both trust Ana and them about this, something tells me that she is trying to evade any authority. She would probably think that the feds want to take her away."

"You are right about this," Andy said. "You are so smart. But do you think she could trust us?"

"I don't know," Tammy said. "Maybe or maybe not. We just have to see."

Tammy looked at Andy's cellphone to see if she could find any signal to any cellphones for the two people Ana had to look up. It seemed like it was a long way for the crew to have to go to, as the red blip on the radar remained at certain parts of the screen, but the blip wouldn't get to the center. Once the blip got closer to the center, the group was closer to the Palm Tree Beach area.

Just then, Andy's transceiver rang.

"Hey, Ana, did you find anything about those people?" Andy said.

"Not a lot was found, except that they lived in Willamette before," Ana said. "The matriarch is Sheryl and it said that her husband and two sons are deceased. She has a daughter, who I think is Erin."

"Any records, though?" Andy said. "What about anything on that Number 40 girl?"

"None that I could find, just found an article about how her husband and sons were among the casualties in the Willamette outbreak," Ana said. "But I did look on social media for Erin Hall and found some pictures of that girl with her. It seems like they're really close."

"Funny you should mention that," Andy said. "Tammy and I saw some pictures when we were at their house earlier. Maybe they know something. But I have one question."

Ana replied, "What's that?"

"How do you know if those women can trust us?" Andy said.

Ana faced the computer screen as her eyes got bigger. "I don't, but we have to try."

"Yes, we do have to try," Andy said. "With her phone and her ankle bracelet back at that house, something tells me that she is trying to avoid getting caught by anybody."

"I'll figure out something," Ana said. "I'll keep you posted."

Andy then hung up. Tammy looked on the radar and the subject got closer and closer to the center. The red blip blinked and the sound beeped. However, no living humans were found.

"I don't see anybody around here except zombies," Tammy said. "But it says that they're closer."

In the backseat, Deidre, who was sitting behind Tammy looked around and noticed something at the top of a building, like maybe a living person or something.

"Oye, chica, I think I found something," Deidre said.

Deidre tapped Tammy on her shoulder and then pointed upward, as Tammy looked above her and saw someone up there, and it appeared that the person was holding a rifle. The building that was right in front of them was another hotel on the resort. It was called "The Beach View Hotel."

_It seems that we found our snipers from earlier._ Tammy thought. There was a good chance that one of the people in their party would get shot. If someone were in the crosshairs of a sniper's scope, the moment the trigger is pulled, it's bye-bye for them. Being careful would be an understatement in this case, but everyone had to be cautious. Tammy leaned over to tell Andy something in his ear.

"Okay, everyone," Andy called the attention of everyone in the group. "We have to be extremely cautious right now. On a count of three, all of us will enter the hotel that's right there."

He inhaled and then exhaled. "Okay, ready? One, two, THREE!"

Just the loudness of his yell of "three" caused everyone to make a break for it. Once everyone got inside the hotel, it, too, was also infested with zombies. There was no time to stress about it, as a zombie approached Tomomi, who delivered a hard karate chop to the neck of the zombie. It was so hard that it sliced the neck right through and the zombie's head was airborne and then dropped right to the ground, along with its body. Marcus grabbed a zombie by its neck and delivered a hard chokeslam to the ground.

Even though a lot of zombies were present in the lobby, everyone in their party was able to stand their ground against some. The main thing on Andy's mind was to try to talk to the girl who was marked, even though Andy was a marked man himself at that point.

Andy and Tammy wanted to go up to the roof, but they needed a little extra support. For all they knew, it could have been a trap. Something else came to mind.

"Hey, Gregory," Tammy said.

Gregory turned around to face the pair. "What's up?"

"How about you come with us up to the roof?" Tammy said. "I have a bad feeling about this. You're a cop, aren't you?"

"Well, beach cop, but yeah," Gregory said.

"Look, we found some stuff at that house," Andy said. "Something tells me that this girl is evading authority. Maybe you can help convince her that you're not after her."

"I'll try," Gregory said. "You'll need my protection anyway."

Andy then looked at everyone else, but Deidre, Marcus, and Tomomi turned around and signaled to him that they'll be fine and that if they need to be safe that there was a maintenance closet nearby. Tammy led the way to an elevator and found a button that said "Roof" and then pushed it. All three people were armed. Tammy still had her shotgun axe, which had been reliable for her a while. Andy had his barbed wire bat. Gregory had his pistol, stun gun, and baton. Andy was the only one not armed with a firearm, but he had no choice but to make do with what he had.

It wasn't long until the elevator had reached the rooftop. The door opened and there was open space with the ventilation ducts and stuff. They slowly walked and right near a ledge were three women looking below and sat in a position where it looked like they were looking through scopes. A gunshot was heard as they were making their approach to the three ladies. The lady in the middle started to move a bit, then turned around and jumped as she noticed the three people making their approach. She drew her rifle and aimed it at the three. It drew attention to the young ladies who were with her and it caused them to aim their weapons to the three.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Sheryl said. "If you come any closer, I'll blow your fucking head off!"

Tammy looked at one of the young ladies. One of them wore a hat and appeared to be Hispanic. The other thing that was noticeable was that she had a bandage under her right ear.

"We don't want any trouble," Andy said. "We just want to talk."

"Talk? Really? About what?" Sheryl said in a suspicious tone. "And what's this cop doing here?"

"Easy, miss, I'm just here to help," Gregory said. He drew and pointed his pistol right to Sheryl. Even though his weapon was less powerful than the sniper rifle that the three ladies were wielding, he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

"Yeah, right, you're probably under the orders of your superiors to find us!" Sheryl said. "Stay back or I will fire!"

"I don't know anything and I can assure you of that," Gregory said. "Please, under my orders, put down your weapons."

Andy noticed the girl with the hat and the bandage, too.

That has to be her. He thought.

"Listen, I'm not going to bullshit you ladies here," Andy said. "I think some really bad people are after one of you."

He looked to the Hispanic girl. "Are you Mary Mitchell? Or were known by that at any point?"

"Her name is Maria," Erin, the other young girl, said. "Who are you?"

"We're just trying to find out some stuff," Tammy said. "We're helping a friend of ours find Mary Mitchell or whoever she is."

"How do we know that you're not after her?" Sheryl said with her weapon pointing at Andy.

"Listen, my friend is a federal agent and…" Andy said.

"Federal agent?!" Maria said. "Fuck you! I don't trust feds or cops, especially that one with you!"

Maria pointed her gun at them with a look of rage like she wanted to kill them.

"Maria, put the gun down!" Erin said.

"Yeah, put down the gun right now," Sheryl said. "Let's listen to them."

Andy stood there frozen stiff, but Tammy came up to him and tapped him on his shoulder to bring him back to reality.

"Listen, my friend may be a fed," Andy said. "But she is not after you like that. She wants to keep you safe."

"How do you know so much about what's going on?" Sheryl said.

Tammy replied, "Our friend found some information on this organization called Phenotrans and that they probably had something to do with the outbreak. She even found a file on 'Mary Mitchell,' who at one point was supposed to start an outbreak in Miami."

Maria raised her head away from the scope and slowly put her rifle down after what she just heard. "I want to know more."

Andy talked this time, "She told us that you were arrested on false charges and that you were given an odd sentence, such as house arrest and you may have had a connection with Carlos Mendoza, the drug lord."

"That's a lie," Maria said. "I never had any connection with that horrible man. But I don't know if your friend is trying to take me away. So why should I believe you?"

"Well, you're not the only one who is marked," Andy said.

"Just letting you know," Tammy said. "This may sound strange, but we went by your house earlier to see if we could find Mary, Maria, whatever, and some strange guy dressed in black and two gang members were found inside. They were looking for you, but they also tried to kill my boyfriend. We are marked, too."

Sheryl interrupted, "Listen, I have been a mother-figure to Maria here ever since my daughter Erin and I moved out here. I lost my husband and my two sons in Willamette. They died trying to survive, at the mall, no less. These two are like sisters. I love Maria like she is the other daughter that I never had. So we are all on the run from those assholes."

Maria looked at Andy, Tammy, and Gregory, who then put his gun down. She had every right to be paranoid, but she now knew that she wasn't alone in this situation. Although in Andy's case, he had yet to figure out why we he was wanted dead, and by whom, for that matter. So without warning, Maria moved her right hand to the right side of her neck and slowly peeled the bandage off to reveal the tattoo of the number 40.

"You are her," Tammy said. "We need to get you somewhere safe from everyone."

"No offense, but I still don't trust your friend," Maria said. "I don't know what the feds want from me. All I know is that Phenotrans is after me. They want me to start the outbreak in Miami right after this. And your friend, I don't know if she is reliable. The feds probably want to take me to Phenotrans."

A ringing sound was heard on the earpieces that Andy and Tammy were wearing. Both of them answered at the same time.

"Hey, what's going on?" Andy said.

"Andy, did you find her?" Ana said.

"Yes, we found her," Tammy said.

"Oh, Tammy, I didn't know that you were on the line as well," Ana said. "Has she said anything?"

"She has told us a lot of things, but she doesn't trust you," Andy said.

"Well, I really need for her to come back here so that Bruce and I could talk to her," Ana said. "I noticed on the monitors that the Caribbean Boyz are out patrolling the areas of the resort and other parts of the city. I also noticed that zombies are slowly starting to get into other areas, like Little Port-Au-Prince, the Haitian district. Now I also see some people in black suits patrolling the area. It's not safe for her out there."

"We'll tell her," Tammy said. "What about the ZDC? Have they found anything?"

"Park and Gates told us that they're looking around," Ana said. "They'll keep us posted if they find anything else. So far, they found broken glass similar to what you found. I think more of those bees are swarming and infecting people with the virus."

Confusion reared Tammy's head at that point. Something told her that this was a terrorist attack on the city. The ZDC was working with the FBI on this whole thing, but more broken glass was found. It was as if someone was trying to infect the entire city. The reason was still unknown. The way these zombies could quickly turn after being infected, especially in the warm climate that they were in and there had to be a newer strain of the virus.

"Okay, we'll try to talk her into going with us, but she still doesn't trust anybody," Andy said.

"I don't blame her," Ana said. "Just try to get her to come."

They then hung up.

"That was my friend Ana, the fed," Andy said. "She wants you to come back to our base. She feels that you'll be safe there."

Tammy looked towards Sheryl and Erin. "Maybe you two can come along. It's not safe out here. I think a lot of people are looking for Maria right now."

Though Maria had little trust in the feds because of what their motives may or may not be, but earlier, she had noticed some other people out there in black suits. She figured that they were part of Phenotrans, and they were after her. But she had no choice but to take Andy and Tammy's word for it.

"Okay, I'll go, but I still don't trust anybody on this," Maria said.

Sheryl added, "Listen, if you so much as try to hurt Maria, I will go after you."

"Me too," Erin said.

"Understood," Andy said.

"Just tell us where to go," Sheryl said.

"It's the first mansion on the right when you drive from the bridge onto the island that's nearby," Tammy said.

"We'll meet you there," Sheryl said. "Come on, girls."

Sheryl, Erin, and Maria got up to follow the couple and the beach cop who was with them. They all entered the elevator and went down to the lobby. Once the elevator door opened, several zombie corpses were found dead on the floor and the front door was sealed so that more zombies wouldn't come in. The only living beings that were around were Deidre, Marcus, and Tomomi. Andy and Tammy, along with the others who were with them, were amazed at how the other three people stood their ground against the infected undead.

The three people saw them and without saying anything, they also walked with them. Andy opened the door and more zombies were seen outside. Andy and Tammy ran out there and whacked each of the zombies that were out there, as did Tomomi and Deidre. Everyone killed a few zombies to clear the way to get to the truck that everyone was in. Andy ran to get to the driver's side, while Tammy hurried to get to the front passenger seat. Everyone got to where they were. But Maria had other ideas. Though Sheryl and Erin wanted to drive themselves to get back, they weren't sure if they would get there as Maria was a wanted person at that point.

Sheryl offered to just drive Erin and follow Andy in the pickup that he took earlier. Deidre and Tomomi got into the backseat. Maria joined the other two ladies in the back. Sheryl and Erin ran to find their car, which was only parked across the street. They wasted no time as they got to the car, but before they could get in, some gang members approached them and started harassing them.

Andy and Tammy noticed from across the street. The couple got out of the truck and told everyone to stay put.

"Hey, assholes, you're looking for me, right?" Andy said.

"Andy, what are you doing?" Tammy said in a low voice.

"Not now, baby," Andy said.

The gang members looked at the couple with evil smiles on their faces.

"Hey, our boss told us about you guys," said one of the gang members. "He said that you killed some of our guys."

"It was self-defense," Andy said. "Besides, some of your guys tried to rape my girl."

The gang member faced Tammy and then looked her up and down.

"Wow, I can see why," said the gang member. Tammy looked at him with disgust after that remark. She was so disgusted that she spit at that guy's face. But rather than get upset, the guy just started laughing at her.

"There's only one thing on my mind, why does your boss want me dead?" Andy said.

"Our boss?" the gang member said as he started to laugh. "Did I say that our boss wants you dead?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Andy said.

"Sure, our boss wants us to smoke you, but our boss also said that someone would pay us all if we got you," said the gang member.

Right then and there, a look of confusion grew on the faces of the couple, with Tammy turning her head towards Andy, with a look on her face that said, "What's going on?"

"Who the fuck wants me dead?" Andy said as a fiery scowl grew on his face and said it with venom in his voice.

The gang member chuckled, "You think we're going to tell you, white boy? Time to die is what I will tell you."

The gang member got out a knife while the other two had guns and pointed them right at Andy. However, gunshots were fired as blood spurted out from the chests of the two gun-toting gang members. The gunshots came from Sheryl and Erin, who shot them with their rifles. The gang member who was taunting Andy rushed towards him with the knife, but his face was poked with a barrel of a shotgun, as Tammy pointed it right to him.

"Walk away or I am going to blow your fucking head off," Tammy said. "Leave us alone."

The guy put his knife to the ground. Being that Andy and Tammy had people with them, the guy had no choice but to walk away.

"Just tell me," Andy said. "Who ordered my death?"

"He didn't tell us his name," the gang member said. "All I know is that he goes by 'The Gatekeeper.'"

"Ohhhh, and who's the keymaster? Also, is Gozer involved?" Andy sarcastically replied. "Get the fuck out of here!"

The gang member just walked away like nothing happened. Andy took a deep breath and didn't say anything as he just went back to the truck. Tammy followed and went back, while Sheryl and Erin got into their car.

The gang member looked to his side and stared out of his peripheral vision towards Andy as he walked away.

Before Andy could start the truck, he sat there in silence while Tammy looked at him.

"Honey, I think you should stay at the safe house," Tammy said. "It's not safe for you out here."

"It's not safe for you from the zombies, either, but we're still here," Andy said. "I want to get to the bottom of who wants me dead. But first we need to take Maria to have Ana talk to her."

"Look, I'm afraid that you're going to die out here," Tammy said. "Because of those nightmares that you had, I am scared that you're going to be that depressed and suicidal guy that I met two years ago. Now that someone wants you dead, it's gotten worse."

Andy looked at Tammy. "I am nowhere near being that guy, but I am also scared of bad things happening to you. I don't even want to see someone I love die in front of me. It happened with Adrian, and I don't want it to happen with you. I would tell you to stay at the safe house, but you've been quite the help and there is just no way that I can do this alone. We are all in this together."

Tammy had a tear trickle down her eye after hearing that. She knew she was a lucky girl to have Andy, who loved her deeply, and she had those same feelings for him as well. Two years before, they felt that it was fate when they met in Fortune City. It was destiny. If only she knew what plans he had for her.

Andy then started up the truck and got out his phone.

"Let's listen to some music," he said. He looked through a playlist and the one song that drew his interests was "We Own It" from Wiz Khalifa and 2 Chainz.

"Are you sure you want to listen to that?" Tammy said right in the middle of the first verse.

"Hey, I need to clear my head a bit," Andy said, as he put the truck in drive. "Now let's go."

Tomomi and Deidre leaned over to say something.

"Hey, I want you to know that what you just said to each other was beautiful," Deidre said.

"Yeah, you two really deserve each other," Tomomi said.

Maria sat there in silence but the look on her face spoke volumes as she saw that these two people in the front seat just stumbled upon this situation. They could have tried to mind their own businesses, but a thought came to her head that maybe they had faced a situation like this before. She started to regret pointing her rifle at the two earlier and it seemed to her like they weren't lying about the feds. However, she was about to find out for herself what she was about to face at the safe house.

As the truck started driving, the car that Sheryl and Erin were in made a U-turn and they started following Andy and crew. It wasn't without ramming zombies, however.

As Andy was driving, Tammy looked around until something familiar drew her attention. A man dressed in black with long dreadlocks stood on the side of the road. Not just anybody, but the same mysterious man from the previous day who was seen when Andy, Tammy, and Ana went to the fortune teller.

"Hey, Andy, look" Tammy said.

Andy turned his attention to his right and saw that man as he looked on and no zombies were approaching him or anything.

"Wait, that's the same guy from yesterday," Andy said. "What's his deal is what I want to know."

"I don't know, but something is not right about him," Tammy said. "Maybe we need to check on Madame Poulet again."

"We'll see," Andy said.

They were all on their way to get back to base.

* * *

**MENDOZA MANSION**

**11:37 AM**

It had been roughly 20 minutes since everyone had arrived at base. Maria wasn't ready to talk. Ana was told that she needed a bit before she could talk to her. Everyone else just went to relax a bit before anything else could happen.

Andy looked at his phone for any news reports. One report that went national for some reason was from a reporter named Chase Carter, who was covering a chemical dump somewhere in the Northeastern region that was close to East Mission, Oregon.

Agent Simpson turned on the TV to check out the news report on UBN. Anchorwoman Susan Collier had something to say.

_In other news reports, it seems that the outbreak in Palm Tree City, Florida has gotten more out of hand. Members of the Zombie Defense and Control had found some broken glass and some remains of some kind of insect, like a wasp or a bee of some sort…_

"Man, when are we going to get to the bottom of this?" Simpson said. "It has been more than a day and I'm ready to get out of here."

"We all are," Andy said.

"But we are under some kind of orders," Agent Simpson said. "Nobody has made any mention as to what will happen when the military comes to the city. For all we know, we might be stuck here."

Paul had entered the room and noticed some of the footage on the screen. Simpson looked at him after he walked in.

"Hey, why haven't you submitted your photos and videos to the news stations?" Simpson said.

"Some of those guys probably saw me before I left with my dog," Paul said. "I wasn't able to confirm what their activity was. It was all built around a hunch."

"Well, when we went to the camp earlier, it confirmed your suspicions," Simpson said. "It is not too late to show the media what had been found. That scientist had told us some things. Now we just need to see who was directly responsible for the outbreak. But most of all, we need to get out of here. I haven't heard from the military yet."

While Andy and Tammy sat on the couch, Andy's cellphone rings and on the screen, it had a picture of an older lady, like she was in her mid-to-late-40s.

"Hello, Mom?" Andy said as he answered the phone. "This is a surprise."

Tammy turned around to look and saw as Andy got up to go somewhere else. Andy faced Tammy and gave her a signal that he would go somewhere else.

"Yes, I am okay, Tammy's okay, we're hanging in there," Andy said. "I know what you're saying. I'm kind of scared, too. Remember, this isn't the first time that I have been in something like this. Yes, I remember that my brother was killed and I'm still a little shaken about that."

Andy stood there in silence as he listened to his mother talk. It would seem that she was worried about him and Tammy, as the outbreak was likely all over the media by that point.

"Also, do you remember Ana, the girl I dated in high school?" Andy said. "Well, she is out here and she has been fine. Yes, I will let her know you said hello. I love you, bye."

Tammy sat there and then suddenly, her phone rang, too. It was her father who was calling her.

"Dad?" Tammy said. "Yes, Andy and I are okay. We're safe right now. Things are getting crazier out there, but we're hanging in there. Just remember that I had been in the middle of an outbreak before. Andy and I will be home soon. I will let you know when we're on our way back."

Tammy sat there as her father continued to speak. She looked up and saw that Andy was on his way back to her.

"Andy has been keeping an eye on me and I have been doing the same for him," Tammy said. "I love you and Mom, too. Bye."

Meanwhile, Ana walked towards the room where the Halls and Maria were. Ana knocked on the door.

"Come in," Sheryl said.

"It's me," Ana said. "I would like to speak to Mary now." She looked towards her and asked, "Are you ready?"

Maria took a deep breath and reluctantly agreed to do this.

"Listen, I think I have a way that you might be able to trust me on this," Ana said. "Do you speak Spanish?"

Maria nodded her head.

"I will talk to you alone," Ana said. "I have to tell my partner about this. You have to trust me on this. I'm not trying to take you or sell you out to Phenotrans."

Maria nodded her head again.

Ana looked towards Sheryl and Erin and gave them a signal to leave the room. The two young women were now alone. Maria was rather skeptical about this, but Ana had to be trusted on this. She risked her life earlier trying to find information at the camp that was in the Everglades.

["Okay, Mary,"] Ana started talking in Spanish to her. ["Tell me what's with the Number 40 tattoo. Why does Phenotrans want you? Tell me everything you know."]

Maria took another deep breath. ["I am from Santa Cabeza. I was placed under foster care after the destruction of my town. When I was 15, I was taken to a lab where some other orphans such as myself were taken to be given some sort of treatment. I remember waking up with the 40 tattoo under my right ear, but I had no idea what it meant. However, I noticed some other kids; at least some in the same room that I was that had similar tattoos with different numbers under their right ears. I had a weird feeling about this. At some point, some of the kids were taken away by this man who had long black hair and dark skin. He had a very suspicious look about him, like he was up to no good. I looked out through a crack in the door and several orphans were injected with something by that same man, but also were infected with something else by this one woman. I think she was that man's sister. I was shocked. So I made a break for it. I ran away. I made a break to get to Florida, as I saw that I was on the list, but I was under the name 'Mary Mitchell.' I got out of there and ran away. I even took some money and I ended up out here. I was placed in under foster care and then Sheryl took me in, and I grew close with her daughter Erin."]

["Your name isn't Mary,"] Ana said. ["What is your real name?"]

["My real name is Maria Miguel,"] Maria said. ["I had a really bad feeling about what those people were doing. Somehow Phenotrans, for some reason, tracked me down and were out to infect me to finish the job. They said I had ties to that drug lord Carlos Mendoza, when I have no connection with him. The police arrested me and found some narcotics that were planted on me. Somehow, I was placed under house arrest under a bullshit charge and given a bullshit sentence. I have a feeling that Phenotrans is looking for me so that they can infect me and make me do what I was supposed to do."]

["I have something to tell you,"] Ana said. ["Phenotrans is working with Carlos Mendoza. They made a deal with each other. My partner and I were working to try to catch Mendoza, as it had been speculated that he was back in the country. He was one of the most wanted men. Now that we know that he is involved in this, he is running out of places to hide and we will catch him."]

It turned out that Ana's intuition about Maria was correct. But then something else came to mind.

["I have one question, are you infected?"] Ana said.

Maria shook her head in response.

But then something else hit Ana at that moment.

_Do you think maybe Mendoza had anything to do with trying to get Maria? Like maybe she could start the outbreak in Miami and maybe wipe out some other competition and maybe have the virus spread into other parts of Florida. Man, the possibilities are endless._

"Hey, listen," Ana said in English. "We will keep you safe here. My partner, my friends and I are trying to find out the truth in everything that is going on."

Maria nodded her head once again. Ana exited the room and then walked down the corridor and then went down the stairs and signaled to Simpson to meet with her.

"Hey, she told me a lot of things," Ana said. "It turns out that I was right. It seems that she was set up and that Phenotrans are out to get her. I'll tell you more later."

Then out of nowhere, in walked the ZDC agents, Simon and Brad.

"Hey, did we miss anything?" Simon said.

"No, but what else did you find?" Simpson said.

"More wasps and some crazy guys out in various parts of the city," Brad said. "I saw some other living people, but it seemed like they are on their own agenda than anything."

"I never got a chance to tell you," Simpson said. "But we believe that the man we're after may have something to do with the outbreak. His name is Carlos Mendoza."

"That drug lord? Really?" Simon said. "What the hell would he know about zombies?"

"Quiet," Brad said. "What do you know so far?"

"Just what we were told by Professor Logan, who was a scientist that worked for them until we brought him back," Ana said. "He gave me a thumb drive with some information. But I found some other info that I can't share with you right now. It seems that there is more than what we think."

Simon then turned around and made eye contact with Andy and Tammy. Andy got up, but Tammy grabbed him by the wrist.

"Andy, don't," Tammy said.

"I know he may have apologized, but I don't think he meant what he said," Andy said.

Andy walked up to Simon and asked to talk with him. The two men walked away, but in just a couple of seconds, Andy let out what he had to say.

"Listen, what you said earlier was out of line. You can say whatever you want to me, but I don't appreciate you disrespecting Tammy in front of me. Do I make myself clear?"

"I know, I was out of line," Simon nodded his head and then looked away and then right back towards Andy. "I am sorry for dissing Tammy in your presence, but you have to know that I have history with her."

"That doesn't mean shit," Andy said. "She may have told me a lot about you, but none of that matters right now. If we're going to work together, I need for you to apologize to her right now."

Simon sighed at that request. He walked up to Tammy, who was still sitting on that couch.

"Hey, Tammy," Simon said. "I just want you to know that I am sorry about what I said to you and about you earlier. That was rude of me. I know you don't trust me after everything we've been through, but I am doing something with myself now."

"Thank you, Simon," Tammy said in a quick fashion. "Now go back to your partner."

Agent Paulson then came out and approached the couple. "Hey, I need you to come with me."

The couple then walked with Paulson to the security room and he pointed at something on one of the TVs.

"I found some footage outside of a convention center in town," Paulson said. "It seems that some people are trying to see if it will still happen despite the outbreak. Can you two check it out right now?"

"Wait, I found a flyer about this earlier," Andy said. "It's still going on? But we just got here a little while ago and we need-"

"To go check it out," Tammy said. "Andy and I will go see what's up down there in a little bit. Come on, baby."

The two exited the security room.

"What was that about?" Andy said. "You were so quick to volunteer to it and right now? Really?"

"I just don't want to spend another minute with Simon here," Tammy said. "I don't trust that guy."

"But some guys want to kill me," Andy said.

"We just need to avoid anything like that, and we will be fine," Tammy said. "I know I'm worried, too. But as long as we're still alive, and that we avoid them, we should be okay."

Andy and Tammy walked quickly and right before they could get to the front door, Ana called their attention.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" she said.

"We were informed of some other living people," Andy said. "I found a flyer earlier that made me wonder if anybody thought that a con was still going on."

"We're going to check it out," Tammy said.

"Okay, I'll keep you posted about anything else," Ana said.

Andy and Tammy went right into the pickup truck and were now on their way to check something out. Could a convention go on at a time like this? There was only one way to find out.

**September 28th**

**12:02 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**47:57:37**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had made references to a couple of characters from the "Watchtower" and "Endgame" movies. Chase Carter was the protagonist in those two movies, while Susan Collier was only featured in "Watchtower." I believe that those two movies were part of the "Dead Rising" canon.


	16. Conventional Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A convention is taking place somewhere in an unaffected part of the city. Andy and Tammy go and check it out.

**September 28th**

**12:54 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**47:05:21**

It had been nearly an hour since Andy and Tammy had left the safe zone to go and see what could be going on at a convention. The question on both of their minds was if it was going on, why didn't it cancel? Another thing that puzzled them was whether that area could have been infested by that point. The information that they had been given by that point was that the remains of canisters that were filled with the wasps were found in other parts of the city. It could only mean that some people were trying to infect other parts of the city little by little.

The two had to see for themselves whether or not that area where an event would take place would be infected by that point. Tammy and Ana found a couple of beach volleyball players at the venue where a tournament was supposed to take place. The fate of the other participants was unknown, but because the outbreak had started the previous night, at least when the couple had witnessed the zombies coming and attacking, it's possible that those athletes had canceled when news broke out.

There was only one way to find out. As the number of zombies increased in the city, it took them a while to get to their destination. Apart from dealing with the undead, Andy had a price on his head, and apparently Tammy might be the bonus. They were in a lot more danger than it was worth.

The couple had arrived in the same pickup truck that they used before, but it was only those two this time. There was no backup with them. However, neither of them knew what they were about to encounter. The unknown can be a scary thing sometimes.

Before they got out of the truck, Andy turned towards Tammy as she looked straight ahead and then turned her attention towards him.

Andy let out what he wanted to say, "Tammy, you were in quite a rush to get going when we left. I know that you had told me about your rough history with Simon, but you wanted to get out of there as soon as possible."

"Baby, look," Tammy replied. "I know you tried to defend my honor earlier and I love you for that, but I also didn't like how he treated you earlier. He didn't seem like he was sorry when he apologized to you."

"Tammy, you are my angel and I see why you did that, but because we might have more people who might be alive here, I should have checked with that guy George, who drove us back on his bus. Good thing I have his number, even though we might be here for a bit if he has to come and get us."

"Well, we have to see what is inside first," she said. "Come on, baby. Let's go in there."

They opened the doors to the pickup truck and right before their very eyes was the convention center. It was a warm sunny day at that moment and the palm trees had surrounded the venue. It looked like some vehicles were parked outside, but who even knew if there were any living people in there?

After Tammy exited the truck, the glove compartment opened, and Andy noticed that there was some jewelry in there for some reason. But then noticed under his seat was a flashlight and a roll of duct tape. Not that he expected anything to happen in that environment, he put the items together. When he stepped out, he pushed the button on the flashlight with the jewels taped onto the head. Once the flashlight turned on, he jumped at the sight of a colored laser coming out and then the laser hit against the concrete as it broke part of it. It prompted Andy to turn it off and then holster it in his pants. But then it dawned on him that Tammy was unarmed.

However, a baseball bat was seen on the bed of the truck. Behind the backseat were tools such as a hammer and nails. He built another weapon, as it would be best not to go around empty-handed, because who knows what could happen at any moment?

Andy walked out of the car to catch up to his girlfriend. Tammy turned around said, "Hey, what took you so long?"

Andy then got out the weapon he built for her and handed it to her.

"What's this? You built me a spiked bat?" she said.

"Trust me, it would be better if we had this in case we were to see any zombies," Andy said.

Tammy looked at it and realized that anything was possible. She then saw what Andy had built.

"What's that?" she said. "Let me see that."

"I don't know, this seems even more dangerous," he said.

"Come on, let me see," Tammy said. Andy reluctantly handed her the weapon he had built.

"Don't hold it so close to your face," Andy said.

Tammy held the weapon away from her face and other parts of her body. She pressed the button on the flashlight and then jumped at the sight of the laser emitting from it.

"What the hell is that?!" she yelled. She immediately handed the weapon back to Andy.

"It's a lightsaber, or a laser sword if you want to call it that," he said.

"I know what a lightsaber is," Tammy replied. "I have watched the Star Wars movies before, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, you watched them with me," he said.

Tammy paused at that comment, and looked inside in the venue through the window. "Let's go inside right now."

Andy and Tammy walked right up to the door. From the looks of things, in the area that they were in, there weren't a lot of zombies present. They were in North Shore, but it seemed a little quieter than before. Andy opened the door and what was seen before his and Tammy's very eyes were people walking around.

"This is going to be a harder than I thought," Tammy said. "Also, it's crazy to see that this event is still going on despite the outbreak."

"Gee, you think?" Andy said.

"I'm serious," Tammy said. "Then again, the things you see in a zombie outbreak. I mean I was in the middle of clam with no way to walk in a casino."

"Oh yeah, I know that," Andy said. "Let's go see if we can try to talk some of these people into going back."

"Do you think we can get them all, though?" Tammy said.

"George gave me his number," Andy said. "I'll let him know."

"Yeah, but I don't think we could get everyone out of here," Tammy said.

"There's got to be a way," Andy said.

The two walked around and noticed some people dressed like characters from various games, movies, comic books, and cartoons. Andy noticed a girl dressed like Tron Bonne from Mega Man Legends, and what appeared to be a little person dressed like a Servbot. Tammy noticed a couple walking around dressed like Viewtiful Joe and Sexy Silvia.

Many people treated this as if they attended any other con in spite of the hell that the city was undergoing. With that part of town being less infected than other parts, no one knew if that area was bound to fall victim to the same fate. What was even more surprising was that there were no zombies inside the convention center, unlike in Willamette and Fortune City, when even the interiors had the undead walking.

Tammy leaned over towards Andy, "Hey, if we ever go to one of these things for real, I think I found some ideas on what he could dress as."

"Not a bad idea," Andy replied. "So many to choose from, but so little time, too,"

Tammy added, "We need to find a way to get at least some of these people to safety."

Andy knew what she meant, but he looked around and started to think that maybe that this place could be safe enough for some of these people here.

"What's going to happen when it's time to evacuate the people from here," he said.

"I don't know," Tammy said and then took a deep breath.

They continued to walk around and as they looked around, two women turned around and looked at the couple. One had blonde hair and wore a tight black leather outfit. She wore a tight black tube top that exposed cleavage and midriff. The other woman had bright red hair with bangs that barely covered her left eye and also wore a revealing outfit, with white cape covering the right side of her body and wore a long-sleeved crop top and tight black pants. They looked right at them.

Tammy turned her attention towards the two women who stood there and watched them walk off. A tingly sensation had gotten to her chest and then extended through her veins. She turned her attention forward and took a deep breath, and then another, which caught Andy's attention.

"Tammy, what's wrong?" he said.

"I have a bad feeling right now," Tammy said.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Those two ladies that I saw, they were looking at us," Tammy said.

Andy slowed down and barely turned his head, but then Tammy let out a quiet yet quick "Don't turn around!"

A chill ran down Andy's body at that moment, with a similar feeling that his girlfriend felt. He didn't want to cause suspicion.

"I wonder what's up with them," Andy said. "You know, I don't want to know."

As the couple walked off, the two scantily-clad women continued to look at them. The one with the red hair leaned over towards the blonde.

"Do you think that's the guy, Trish?" she said.

"You know my name's not Trish," the blonde said.

"We're going by our codenames, you're Trish, I'm Lucia," the redhead said.

"Right, but did we have to dress like those characters?" Trish said.

"We had to blend in somehow," Lucia said. "Luckily we had these clothes to wear."

"Whatever, I think that's who we're after," Trish said. "We just need to get them right where we want them and take them out."

"I think we were told that we could get more money if we take both of them alive," Lucia said. "We'll do whatever it takes. Now that I think about, where's Lady?"

"She should be here soon," Trish said. "All we need to do is get those two and then she'll handle the rest here. We just need to make our move now."

Meanwhile, Tammy and Andy looked around to see if they could find a microphone or something to warn the people there about any zombies coming. Tammy was concerned about the zombies coming eventually, as they were close to an area that had some zombies. In fact, this venue was close to the strip club that they went to the night before, and zombies were present in that area.

Andy looked around and noticed a microphone stand with a couple speakers close to it.

"Hey, Tammy," he said to get her attention and when she heard him, he pointed directly towards the microphone.

"Bingo," Tammy said. "I'll go and warn everyone."

"I'll keep an eye out for any strange shit," Andy said.

"And what kind of strange shit is that?" a voice was heard from behind and Andy jumped and then immediately felt something made of metal poke his back. He slowly turned around and saw the two women that Tammy warned him about from earlier.

"Who the hell are you two?" Andy said. "What do you want?"

"Not important," Trish said. "Why don't we just get out of here and then you'll see who we are."

Just when Tammy was about to turn on the speakers, she looked up and noticed those same two women who were looking at her and Andy from before.

Oh shit. She thought. Tammy looked at the two women with so much mistrust. As for Andy, he had to expect things like this to happen while he was in the city. It had only been a few hours since he had a gun pointed at him after searching for Maria. This was no different, as the woman dressed like Trish pointed the gun to his chest, but she was so close to him to avoid suspicion.

Lucia said, "Come on, do as we say and we won't hurt you."

Tammy then looked around and noticed a woman with short black hair and was dressed in a small white button-down shirt with a black short skirt and had long brown boots. It had dawned on her who these women were dressed as, as she had played a game that Andy introduced her to after they started dating. The women had a certain motif to them, and the other woman who was seen from a distance may be a third member of their team.

But that wasn't that the bad part. As Andy was being taken away, the third member was seen putting her hand in a bag and picked up what appeared to be a canister of some sort. Warning the crowd at the event was no longer important, as a terrorist act was imminent, and she picked up the spiked bat and raced towards the suspicious-looking girl who was dressed like Lady from the Devil May Cry games.

Several people watched Tammy as she ran towards this person. It was enough to draw attention to a couple of featured guests, particularly a muscular man with long brown hair and his wife, who was at the same booth as he was.

"Something must be up with that girl," the man said.

"Which girl?" the woman said.

"Both of them, but I have a weird feeling about the one with the bag," the man said.

The moment Tammy caught up to the Lady cosplayer, she yelled out, "Stop right there!"

Lady raised the canister and sneered at her, "You come any closer, and I throw this to the ground."

Tammy froze right in front of her. It was obvious that there was no way for her to confront her now. If she so much as tried anything, the assassin would throw the canister and cause chaos inside the venue.

The man who witnessed grabbed Lady from behind and picked her up and then dropped the canister. Tammy's eyes widened and jumped forward so that she could catch it. She wasn't close enough, but the canister landed in the hands of the woman, who was also the man's wife.

"Hey there, sweetie," the woman said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thank god you caught that," Tammy said.

The woman looked inside the canister and noticed that there were a bunch of bees inside. She then extended her right hand to help Tammy get up.

Lady then elbowed the big guy in the face, causing him to release her.

"Back off, you two, this doesn't concern you," Lady said, who then looked at Tammy. "This is just between me and her. Ready to dance, Barbie?"

She pulled a sword out of a sheath and then brandished it like she was ready to fight. Several attendees ran away after the sight of the sword, as it looked very real. Tammy slowly backed up a bit, as she knew that she was in over her head right then and there. She may have taken a life throughout the time she was in the city, but this woman seemed more professional than any gang member or someone who had gone crazy.

But nonetheless, she raised and brandished her spiked bat.

_Oh man, why am I doing this?_ She thought.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: LADY**

Lady swung her sword multiple times, but Tammy dodged the attacks each time. She swung it diagonally downwards from her right and Tammy dodged, but she then tripped and fell to the ground. Lady then drew a handgun and then pointed it at her, but Tammy quickly reacted when she swept her right leg to trip her. As Lady fell to the ground, she picked up the spiked bat and swung it in a downward motion and hit her left shoulder. When the nails pierced through her flesh, she screamed at the pain it caused. Blood squirted out of her shoulder, but it was not enough to give up.

Lady swung the sword once again and then cut a tiny hole into her shirt that was right above the part where her midriff was exposed, as she was still wearing that shirt she got from the strip club.

Tammy kicked Lady in the leg and then swung the spiked bat right across her stomach. Lady yelled on impact from the attack. As soon as Tammy released the weapon from Lady's flesh, red stains had mixed in with the white on her shirt. Being that her top showed her midriff as well, the wound on her bare skin was visible.

Furious at what just happened, Lady slashed her sword towards Tammy, but was blocked by the bat. However, the blade cut into the wood a tad. Tammy swung the spiked bat towards Lady, but she, too, blocked the attack with her sword, cutting through the bat some more. Lady then jumped upwards and kicked Tammy right in the face and flipped backwards and back to her feet.

"Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?" Lady said. "I'm a professional, and you? You're not even an amateur."

Tammy got back up with the bat in her hand and swung it towards her, but was once again blocked, as the blade had broken the bat into two pieces. Tammy was shocked at the sight of this. In the motion of Lady swinging the sword, she spun around and jumped and delivered a hard spin kick to Tammy's face, which sent her flying to the ground.

Lady kicked Tammy while she was down. The couple from before looked at what was going with so much horror, as did some bystanders, seeing this fight take place. Lady laughed at Tammy as she was hurting her.

She then knelt and picked up Tammy's head by her hair and said, "You didn't have a chance."

Tammy's head dropped as she lied there face down. Lady picked up the sword with the blade pointing in a downward motion. She moved the sword forward, but then felt something hit her back as she released the sword from her hands and then it dropped the ground.

Tammy heard the clatter of metal dropping to the ground and then turned her body around. She noticed the woman from before holding a metal chair as she clocked Lady in the back with it. Tammy got back to her feet and saw Lady with her back turned. Tammy got up and went right towards her and grabbed her by the waist and delivered a German Suplex to her.

It wasn't long until Lady got to her knees. Tammy wasted no time in running and kicking her right in the face. Lady lied on the ground, with a bruise on her face, as well as blood coming out of her jaw. She was out at that moment, like she was unable to get up.

Tammy took a deep breath and then approached the couple.

"Thank you for helping me," Tammy said.

"No problem, sweetheart," the woman said. "What's your name?"

"My name is Tammy, and aren't you…?"

"Yes, this my husband Gary, and I'm Rhonda," she said. "You probably recognize us, right?"

"Yeah, my boyfriend is a fan of your husband," Tammy said. "Nice meeting you."

"Where is he?" she said.

* * *

Meanwhile, back outside, the Trish and Lucia cosplayers led Andy and held him at gunpoint.

"Okay, you can turn around now," Trish said.

"Who are you?" Andy said. "And why were you looking at my girlfriend like that earlier?"

"You are just what we're looking for," Lucia said. "That money is ours, along with the other part of the job."

Andy figured what these two women were doing, as he had that price on his head.

"We figured we could just kill you now, but there seems to be a bigger price if we took you alive," Trish said. "It's just too bad that your girlfriend is going to die along with the rest of them."

"You fucking bitches!" Andy yelled, and turned around to try to run back inside. Trish fired a warning shot in the air.

"Not so fast!" Trish said. "Your girlfriend is fine…for now."

Little did the two assassins know that Andy was armed, as he reached for his pants and got out the weapon he built earlier. He drew the weapon. The two assassins started laughing at him.

"What is that supposed to do?" Lucia said as she laughed in Andy's face.

Andy pushed the button and the laser came right out, much to the shock of the two assassins. Andy raised the laser sword and did a stance with the weapon to his right as he gripped it with both of his hands.

Rather than back off, the two assassins holstered their guns and drew swords that they were carrying. He was outnumbered, but he wasn't about to go down without defending himself. He was in a bad spot, as he was certain that he went back inside to get Tammy, the ladies would shoot him in the back. If he dies, she would die, too. He was in a bad spot, but he had to do something.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: TRISH AND LUCIA**

Trish swung her sword towards Andy, who jumped to the ground to quickly dodge the attack. Lucia swung her sword to slash him while he was on the ground, but he rolled.

_They don't actually think that they're these characters, do they?_ He thought. He got up and Trish tried to slice Andy in the stomach, but he barely jumped backwards, as the blade had cut part of his shirt. Lucia tried to the same thing, except this time, she cut a small bit of his stomach, as he noticed some blood coming out, but the cut wasn't deep enough.

The two ladies brandished their swords. Trish swung her sword towards him, but Andy acted fast and raised his laser sword to guard the attack, only to see that he broke the blade off the sword. Lucia did the exact same attack, only for the exact same thing to happen to sword. All three people were shocked at what they had just witnessed.

It wasn't enough to stop Trish and Lucia, however, as Trish delivered a strong roundhouse kick to Andy's face, causing him to drop his laser sword. Andy got back up and tried to throw a punch, but Lucia blocked his attack and then grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Trish then kicked and stomped on Andy as he was lying on the ground.

Trish helped him get up and then looked right in his face.

"You know, we could have avoided all of this, but you just couldn't listen, could you?"

Andy headbutted Trish after that comment, to which she responded with a yell. He then grabbed her by the legs and delivered a spinebuster to the ground and punched her in the face a few times, but was then blocked by her left hand, as she grabbed him by his neck, and then socked him to get him off of her.

Lucia then delivered a backflip kick to Andy's face which sent him falling to the ground. To say that he was dealing with trained killers would be an understatement. He knew that he was no match for them, especially with all of their skills. He may as well just kill himself then for them to save their energy, plus they wouldn't get paid anyway. The two ladies drew their guns and pointed them right at his face as he lied on the grass.

"Go ahead, shoot me," he said. "My girlfriend is dead anyway. You might as well just finish the job."

"That's not true!" a voice yelled from a distance. Andy got up as he recognized that voice.

"Tammy!" he yelled, as he saw her walking towards them with the two people she met. "Oh, am I glad to see you!"

Tammy had the sword that she took from Lady, as well as the guns. She drew the guns and pointed them at Trish and Lucia.

"This could get messy, I just took down your friend inside," she said. "Leave us alone or I'm going to kill both of you."

After what Tammy had just gone through, it would be too obvious to say that she was having a bad day. Now that the two other assassins were about to try to kill Andy, her day was getting worse. She was almost killed, too, but she was not about to let her boyfriend die if she could help it.

In that moment, Andy used that time to pick up his laser sword, which was on the ground.

Surprisingly enough, the fact that she had Lady's weapons on her was proof that she had taken down their cohort. One would expect Trish and Lucia to laugh in her face at that, but it seemed that she overcame the odds, as Tammy didn't have the skills to match theirs, but still managed to defeat her.

Meanwhile, back inside, Lady had gotten up and slowly moved after what she had just gone through. She noticed that that the canister was gone and in the possession of Gary and Rhonda, but they didn't count on one thing: Lady's bag was still there and inside was another canister.

That bitch may have beaten me, but I am the real winner here. She got out the canister with other bees inside. She got it out and then smashed it to the ground and watched as the bees swarmed the area. Many attendees saw the bees flying towards them as they ran to try to avoid getting stung. Still out of it, Lady then dropped to the ground and lied in a fetal position, finishing part of the job she was supposed to do.

As the two stood outside, they heard some yelling and screaming from a distance. Andy and Tammy turned around and noticed that things were getting crazier.

"Hey, I thought you took that canister," Tammy said to Rhonda.

"I did, I still have it in my hands," she said.

Someone was laughing after that, which caused everyone to turn towards the two assassins.

"Come on," Lucia said. "Did you really think that we were going to use only one canister of those bees? Taking you alive was only the BONUS part of the job. We were supposed to add more to the outbreak."

"Wait a minute," Andy said. "You two work for Phenotrans! Also, who is it that wants to kill me?"

"What gave it away?" Trish said.

"I saw your friend with the canister," Tammy said. "She was going to smash it to let out the bees."

Andy then got in the face of the Trish cosplayer. "Who sent you to kill me?"

"He didn't say his name," Trish said. "He only called us to let us know that you were coming. We were originally here to add more to the outbreak."

Tammy then ran towards the inside to see what was going on.

"Wait up!" Andy yelled. "What about these two?!"

Gary yelled towards Andy, "Don't worry, we'll take care of them, won't we, Rhonda?"

Rhonda nodded her head at that remark. She then picked up a metal chair that was nearby and Gary didn't need weapons in this case.

"I know who you are," Trish said to Gary. "You think that fake shit's going to work here?"

"Fake?" Gary said, as he ran and delivered a hard lariat to her. "Does that seem fake to you?"

Lucia tried to attack Rhonda, who then clocked her right in the head with the steel chair. She then threw the chair to the ground.

"Hey, is that your best shot?" Rhonda said. Lucia tried to throw a right hook to her, but Rhonda ducked and then grabbed her and then slammed her to the ground. Being married to a professional wrestler, who also has some training in other disciplines, she picked up a thing or two from her husband. There was no denying that she was a strong woman who was not afraid to back down from a fight.

Being that the couple was unarmed, Trish and Lucia felt that it would be easy to just take them out with their guns. From a distance, a couple of bees came flying out from the building. They flew a good distance. The two female assassins drew their guns and pointed them right at Gary and Rhonda. Just as they were about to pull the triggers, both women felt a sting in the back of their necks. They quickly grabbed that area, only for them to see that they were stung by those bees. It was now only a matter of time until they would turn. They then looked at each other in the eye and then drew their handguns and pointed them at each other and pulled the trigger at the same time, shooting each other in the head.

Gary and Rhonda looked with so much confusion as to what just happened.

Back inside, a lot of people were running around. Several attendees have now turned into zombies. Andy turned around and noticed that woman dressed as Tron Bonne holding the Servbot cosplayer, who appeared to be a little boy under the mask. The Tron Bonne woman was seen crying and trying to comfort her son. Tammy noticed the couple who were dressed as Viewtiful Joe and Sexy Silvia off to the sides.

"Hey, you two over there!" Tammy said towards the couple. "Go outside right now!"

Andy walked up to the mother and her son. "Hey, you guys better get outside if you want to stay alive. We'll take you somewhere safe. Trust me on this."

The mother and her son, along with the couple went outside to get to safety. Andy and Tammy ran around to see if there were more living people around. They looked around and saw zombies eating other people alive, some were even bitten on part of their body, but it didn't take long for some of them to turn. Limbs flying everywhere, bodies being torn apart, blood was all over the place. Tammy wondered if she had stayed inside and didn't notice the third member causing this sub-outbreak that she could have been among the undead by now.

Three zombies headed towards Tammy, who then drew the sword that she took and then slashed all three of them around their midsections, cutting all of them in half. Blood sprayed out from the halves of their bodies, as well as their organs just hanging out of them. Andy turned on his laser sword. He started to get surrounded by zombies. He swung his laser sword in a 360 degree motion towards the surrounding zombies, dismembering each of them in the process. He looked up and saw a line of zombie s coming towards him. He held the weapon and pointed it forward and then moved it in a stabbing motion as the laser seared and punctured through the group of zombies, killing them in the process.

Tammy shot a few zombies with the gun that she had. The zombies dropped on impact, given that this gun was rather powerful.

Out of the corner of his eye, Andy saw a young Asian-American guy with glasses standing on top of a table as zombies tried to get him. Andy turned around to signal to Tammy that he was going to help this guy. Tammy nodded her head and then mouthed that they will meet up in a little bit. The bespectacled guy kept on kicking the zombies who tried to get close to him. As Andy closed on that trapped guy, he noticed that his picture was behind him, as if he was one of the featured guests at this con. The name read "Eric Masters," and suddenly that name rang a bell to him, as he was said to be a gaming champion from Fortune City.

Eric did everything he could to fight off the zombies, but one zombie grabbed him by the leg and opened its mouth ready to bite him. Eric looked at it like he was ready to die if he had to, even though it was clear that he wasn't mentally ready for death.

But then a miracle happened, as many of those zombies collapsed and exploded. The head of the zombie that was about to bite Eric exploded as blood had splattered all over him and zombie larvae had shot out of the bodies of the undead. Eric then made eye contact with Andy.

"Oh God, thank you so much!" Eric yelled.

"Hey, are you alright?" Andy said.

"I am fine, just scared right now, but I'll be fine," Eric said. "I have heard about real zombies, but they're nothing like what I see in video games."

"Yeah, I know," Andy said. "Hey, go outside if you want to be safe."

"I have a better idea," Eric said, as he noticed a metal stand for a velvet rope. "I'll help you out."

"This shit ain't a game, man," Andy said.

"You're going to need some help right now," Eric said. "Besides, I saw a group of guys hiding somewhere where some zombies haven't gotten to. I'll take you to them."

"Show me where they are," Andy said.

Meanwhile, Tammy kept fighting off various zombies with the sword. Right in front of her was a zombie who looked familiar to her. The zombie was wearing a white top and a black short skirt. It then occurred to her that it was the Lady cosplayer, or what used to be her. Tammy looked directly at her, and though she had turned, it seemed that some of the human mentality was still in her; enough that it seemed that she recognized her. The Lady zombie raised her arms and opened up her hands. Tammy got out the sword and impaled the zombie with it as she stabbed her right through the chest and right through the back, too. She then pulled the sword back and saw the zombie fall to the ground.

But it wasn't enough as the Lady zombie was not dead yet. The zombie convulsed as it lied on the ground. Tammy then got out the gun and then pointed it right at her head and squeezed the trigger without hesitation, blowing her head to bits.

Andy and Eric continued to run through the carnage that was going on.

"Andy!"

He turned and noticed that Tammy was right there. "Tammy, hey, we're looking for some other people. Did you find anymore?"

"No, I can't find anymore, it seems that almost everyone here is dead."

"Not true, I know where to find more people," Eric said. "Follow me."

Eric swung the stand around towards zombies, knocking them down in the process, even killing a few, too. He found a room where some people would play games, whether it was trading card games, board games, or even video games. He opened the door and there were four guys there. One was an African-American guy with suspenders and a button-down with a tie. The other three were Caucasian. One was dressed like a mad scientist. Another was dressed in a sweater vest and slacks. The last one looked like a cosplayer for an anime, as he was dressed like a Japanese schoolgirl.

"What the hell?" Andy said. "Wait a minute; I think I've seen these guys before."

The quartet turned their attentions towards the trio that was nearby.

Andy said, "Hey, I am here to get you to safety. I know a place where you could go. You can continue your game there."

The mad scientist guy looked up and saw Tammy. "Wow, what do we have here? Hey, guys, he has a girl with him. What's your secret?"

"She's my girlfriend, dude," Andy said. "She's off limits. There are more girls where we'll take you."

"Hopefully you're right," the mad scientist said. "Only Kevin here has had some kind of luck. Remember?"

"Shut up," the dapperly-dressed guy said. "I wasn't sure what the deal was."

"That's not important," Andy said. "Let's just get you out here."

Andy, Tammy, and the rest of them ran out of the venue as fast as they could. Much to everyone's surprise, it was safer outside than it was inside at this point. Andy looked around and noticed that there were more people that they needed to escort, that they couldn't just take that truck.

"I have to make a call," Andy said. He reached for his cellphone and looked for George under his contacts.

"Hey, George, can you do me a favor?" he said. "I need for you to bring your bus out to the Palm Tree Convention Center. I have a lot of people here. Can you do that? Thanks, I'll see you in a bit."

2:52 PM

A half-hour had passed to wait for the bus to come, especially with zombies in the way of the driver. After that amount of time, the zombies started to swarm that part of town. The group of people all sat on a high platform to avoid the zombies. Lucky for them, zombies don't how to walk up stairs too well.

It took a bit, and finally the transit bus had come.

"Everyone, let's go!" Andy said.

All of the survivors, ranging from the mother and her son, to the quartet of nerds, everyone who got out of there alive all got on the bus. Tammy had picked up the canister before she and Andy headed towards the bus.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Andy said.

"I was thinking that maybe I could use this as evidence to what had happened," Tammy said. "Plus, that scientist may know something about these bees."

"Okay, but be careful," he said.

"You don't have to tell me twice," she said. "I will be extra careful with this."

The couple got on the bus and everyone was on their way back to the safe house.

* * *

**MENDOZA MANSION**

**3:29 PM**

It took more than a half hour to get back. Being the state that the city was in, George went straight up and back to pick up everyone. It didn't matter what route the bus was for. He had to get there any way he could. Everyone on the bus went right inside the mansion to get safe. The last ones to get out were Andy, Tammy, George, as well as Gary and Rhonda.

The bus was starting to slow down on the way back. George noticed that it was acting up even on the way up.

"Damn, what's wrong with this bus?" George said.

"I'll check it out," Rhonda said.

"What?" Andy said.

"Come on, I may be known as Sweet Rhonda on TV, but I am also an auto mechanic and I know a thing or two about fixing cars. It probably needs more gas for all I know."

Gary cut in, "Don't underestimate my Rhonda. She is one of the best mechanics I know. She could try modifying some of these rides, too."

"Cool," Andy said. "By the way, do you think maybe we can get a picture with you later?"

"Oh sure, but not right now," Gary said.

Andy and Tammy went back inside. Agent Simpson and Ana approached the couple.

"Wow, this is quite a lot of people you guys have saved," Simpson said.

"We had to save as much as we could," Andy said. "Tammy here found some evidence about what's been going on."

Ana looked at Tammy and saw the canister. "Are those the bees that turn people into zombies?"

"You better believe it," Tammy said. "I saw someone try to infect the people at that con earlier."

"Well, they ended up getting infected with the virus anyway," Andy said. "There were these three women working for Phenotrans, but they were also going to try to take me, whether it was killing me or taking me alive. Someone had told them that we were going to be at that con. It's getting out of hand."

"I'll have Professor Logan look at this," Ana said. "Tammy, can you give me that?"

"Sure, but be careful!" she said.

Ana carried the canister away to show that scientist what they had found. She slowly walked into the room where Professor Logan was.

"Hey, my friends found this at a convention," Ana said. "Can you tell me about these bees?"

Professor Logan took a closer look at the canister. Even through the yellow glass, there was something different about the bees than usual.

"Ms. Torres, my friend and I were harvesting some of these wasps out in the swamp when you found me recently," Logan said. "Phenotrans had developed a new type of strain for the virus that is found in the hormones of these bees. Some of these are queens and they are just now develop kings."

"Kings, what are you talking about?" Ana said.

"According to Professor Edwards, who caught wind of this deal with the Cuban Cartel, the company had been developing this new strain of the virus. Being that we are in a tropical climate, the heat would cause the turning process to speed up. Sure, it depends on the genes of people in how long they can turn, regarding their biological and physiological features in their system. But even then, they can turn a little faster than what the original strain from the older queens had."

"This doesn't sound good," Ana said. "Also, from what I understand, this outbreak had some people infecting other parts of the city one at a time. What's going with that?"

"I don't know, but my guess is that they're trying to extend the outbreak, so that the virus can carry over to other cities. This is just theory, though."

Professor Logan had a good insight as to what the reasoning behind the outbreak. Willamette was just a small town that was infected by the wasps that Carlito and Isabela Keyes had infested. Las Vegas was the work of Phenotrans. Still Creek was also done by Phenotrans, mostly because someone just wanted to infect them, too. Fortune City was done to drive up sales of Zombrex.

This city, on the other hand, seems to have motives behind it. As far as Ana was concerned, Phenotrans made a deal with a wanted criminal to infect the city and maybe break his father out of prison. But no one can confirm it yet.

Ana got back to Agent Simpson and told him everything that Professor Logan had said.

"Well, we'll have to meet with the ZDC to tell them what's been going on," Agent Simpson said. "Your friend Andy told me about those Phenotrans agents at that comic con or whatever it was. He filled me in on how they were going to infect the convention. I think I'm going to have to go out there and try to catch some of those guys."

"Maybe I'll go with you," Ana said.

"Aren't you hurt?"

"I am feeling better now, besides, I need to keep my eye out on one of those agents. Something about him that I don't trust."

Agent Simpson nodded his head. "I hope you have some proof about this, even though he was rather rude earlier to your friends."

Ana nodded her head, too and then walked off. She saw Andy and Tammy somewhere.

"Hey, Simpson and I are going to check out something in a little bit," Ana said. "Why don't you two take a break for a little bit? You've done a lot."

"Are you sure? Are you still hurt?" Andy said.

"I'm better now," Ana said. "I'll call you when I find something."

Tammy then cut in, "So did that scientist know anything about the bees?"

"Yes, he did," Ana said. "He told me that there might be a different strain of the virus out there. Just get some rest right now. If Simpson and I find some people out there, we'll bring them."

They all stood there in agreement, but Andy had other ideas in mind. As he was determined to find out who wanted him dead, but in the meantime, it would probably be best for him to be safe.

**September 28th**

**4:02 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**43:57:34**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The psychos in this are codenamed after certain characters. They're not supposed to be the actual characters.


	17. Getting Closer?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ana and the rest of the team go and scope out the downtown area for these murders that had been taking place, as well as a mysterious figure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another chapter centered on Ana.

**September 28th**

**4:20 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**43:39:05**

Ana sat in the security room and looked at the feed from all the cameras around town. There was a lot of footage on the screens of zombies walking around. One could wonder if any of those zombies had recently been infected, as it had been reported that the virus had been spreading little by little all over town. Having seen the canister that Tammy had brought back and also having been told about the type of wasp that was seen inside, one could wonder if anybody who would be infected could be saved before turning.

Before they were about to leave to search for anything related to the outbreak, Agent Simpson had made a call to Lyons, a US Army general. He wanted to talk to them about having them come soon to evacuate the safe house of the survivors, or at least try to work a deal with anybody in charge of the quarantine of the city and have the Navy or Coast Guard take the survivors to safety.

He had been talking to the general for more than 10 minutes while Ana looked at the screen to find anything suspicious. Having the knowledge that the man that she and Simpson were after was connected, he could not be far at all.

"Listen to me, I want to know when they are going to come and pick up any survivors, we can't wait any longer with the city already in shambles!" a voice was heard as Ana looked at the screen. Her eyes shifted and then turned around and saw Agent Simpson on the phone.

"There are people who are still alive and I have some of them right here as we speak," Simpson exhaled after saying that and raised his right arm and moved it by his head. "What's it going to take for you to come out here and take some survivors to safety? We are right on an island off the mainland. If it were up to me, I would have gotten these people out of here a long time ago, but you guys have the US Navy guarding the ocean."

The main thing that was on everyone's minds in that moment was whether or not they would be able to get out of the city. It was a miracle that a lot of people had come to the Mendoza Mansion for safety. It had not been the home to the drug lord in quite some time, especially after he went on the run for the crimes he had committed.

Ana wanted to get out of the city just as much as everyone else did, but she was determined to find out the truth behind the outbreak. Once it had been said that Mendoza had a lot to do with it, this was the biggest chance in catching him. The man would be looking at multiple life sentences combined with a high number of years. In other words, he won't be getting out, assuming he wouldn't be put on death row.

"Lyons, please listen to me," Simpson said. "My team and I are on the case of trying to locate Mendoza. My partner and I found out that he had something to do with this outbreak. A local street gang, whom I believe is connected to the Mendoza Cartel, has been causing a lot of shit out there. What I would like is to have some of your men come and make your rescue, or even to give the Navy or the Coast Guard the go-ahead in at least getting the survivors out of here and then my partners and I will go and complete our mission. What do you mean you can't do it yet? Evidence or not, people are dying out there! Look this isn't over. I will call you guys later and we'll discuss it again. Bye."

Simpson hung up the phone and looked down to the ground, but in a matter of seconds he yelled and banged his hands against the wall. "Fuck!" he yelled in a fit of rage.

The amount of rage in Simpson's system was rather high. There was no doubt that he wanted to take down the people behind the outbreak, but he also wanted to get a lot of the innocent survivors out of harm's way.

Ana turned away from the TV monitors and saw how much of a terrible mood her superior officer was in. She approached him and said, "Bruce, please calm down. We need to keep calm about this."

"Ana, I am just pissed right now," Simpson said. "I don't want to wait another day before anything else happens. I had only spoken to one of the generals a few nights ago and they said something about coming on Monday, but I can see that a lot of these people don't want to wait until that day. I am a man of my job, but I also want to get the other people out of here. I have been through hell and back, and I have faced death numerous times and this is no exception, but I don't want to take these people with us. For all we know, there might not even be a rescue."

Just hearing her superior say that made Ana see that there may not be a way out for anybody. It didn't matter if they were close to the ocean and could get out through international waters and to maybe set sail towards another city that wasn't infected with the virus. It would be possible, if likely that if anybody tried to get out by boat or by helicopter, they would be blown up by the Navy on sight.

Unlike her superior, Ana had a slight fear of dying. She was still a rookie agent taking on a case bigger than what she imagined. She was mainly assigned to work undercover at the hotel and to gain some Intel as it was owned by Mendoza. But since the outbreak had started, she realized that she was biting off more than she can chew. The thing that was on her mind was what she wanted to do after everything was over: see her family again. She hadn't seen them in a while. She hadn't talked to them, either. It didn't matter where she was in her career, she knew that deep down she had the heart of a lost little girl, but she was determined to get to the bottom of everything.

_I miss my family so much now. Not that I didn't miss them before, but I had gotten so into my career that I didn't make time to talk to them. It's like what led to me and Andy breaking up. I got too into my own stuff that I didn't really make time for him and just stopped contacting him. I must keep focused on the mission, but I can't let myself or anybody else die here._

Simpson took a deep breath and told Ana that he would go step out for a little bit. After he stepped out, Ana reached for her pocket to get out her cellphone. She looked through her contacts and came across her mother's number, her father's number, and then her brother's number. She was torn between who she should call, but she made her final decision and made a call.

She stood there and waited for the call to get through.

"Hey, Hector," she said. "How are you doing? How are Mom and Dad doing?"

As she stood there, she looked at the television screens again. While she was listening to her brother talk, she noticed a familiar face on one of the screens on the monitor.

"I am okay, just been on a major case. Last time we talked I became a field agent, but I didn't tell you anything more than that. Because I can't share any confidential information with other people. Yes, I am okay, I know a lot of what's going on out here is all over the news, but I am okay. I just wanted to check on all of you, because I am scared, too. I'll call Mom and Dad later to see how they're doing, too. I love you, big bro. Bye."

Right when the call ended, she had looked closer to that particular screen on the feed. The familiar face that she saw wore sunglasses and had a scar on his face. He was wearing a suit and appeared to be talking on a phone and had other guys standing there with him. It finally dawned on her on who that man was, and he had come to the city to do who knows what. It can't be good, that's for damn sure.

_He is here. It has to be him. I must tell Simpson._

Another thing that was noticeable on the monitor was that there were gang members in his presence, and also men dressed in black suits. The gang members looked like members of the Caribbean Boyz, and then came another group of men on the screen. The men looked like they were Hispanic as well, except they were dressed differently than the Caribbean Boyz, as they looked a little well-dressed. That could only mean one thing.

I wonder if he knows anything about the price on Andy's head. I'll have to get him to tell me what his deal with Mendoza was, but how? And could those other men be some of Mendoza's man. He has to be here!

No time was wasted as she exited the security room to find her superior, but before she could do that, she went back and hit record on that feed. She left the room and found Simpson somewhere.

"There you are, you have to see this!" Ana brought him back to the security room and hit rewind on that feed and showed him the footage.

"What is all of this?" he said.

"That guy right there was the same guy from the video that I showed last night," she said. "He is here in town. Those other guys," she pointed to the casually-dressed gang members, "we dealt with those gang members yesterday and they were after Andy and Tammy," she then pointed to the sharply-dressed men on the screen, "I think those guys are connected to Mendoza. He has to be here. I can feel it."

Simpson's phone rang once again, except this time it was someone else calling him.

"Hello, Park, find anything new?"

"Gates and I had been helping keep the zombies at bay and finding more survivors, but they went to their safe zones," Brad said. "I found some suspicious behavior with some guys dressed in black suits and gang members. We think they're in cahoots or something. Some of our agents are out there trying to find anything that seems suspicious about all of this."

"Funny, my partner found something on the monitor here," Simpson said. "Ana saw someone who we believe was heading this entire operation. He has to know something and I think the big link to the outbreak is near."

"Wow, we might get to the bottom of this case sooner than we thought," Brad said. "We want to end this end and get the hell out of here as soon as fucking possible."

"I tried talking to a general about this, but things are fucked up right now with them," Simpson said. "Go somewhere safe and we will meet you out there soon."

"I am going with you," Ana said.

"Are you sure about this?" Simpson said.

"I feel a lot better than before," Ana said. "I got myself into this mess and I am get out of it one way or another."

"Ana, I see that you got a lot of heart," Simpson said. "You're still a rookie, but you have proved your worth as a field agent. I never doubted you for one second."

"Thank you, I appreciate that," she said. "But we need to get out there before more people die."

"Right, let's go," Simpson said.

They had no time to lose and approached some fellow agents to inform of this urgent mission. There was a lot of reason to believe that Mendoza was in town, and with the head of the operation surrounding the outbreak, there was a chance that the case will be cracked soon enough. Simpson informed them to request backup if anything were to happen.

"Hey, do you guys need to any help on this?" a voice said.

The federal agents turned around and noticed Andy approaching them and offering them his assistance.

Ana step forward to talk to him.

"Andy, you and Tammy have done a lot, you two need to take a break," she said. "Besides, we're dealing with some much bigger shit right now. I'll call you if I need something."

"You're right," Andy said. "We'll stay here for a bit. Just one more thing, if you happen to see any of those wasps out there, kill it when you see one."

"I got you," Ana said.

Ana followed the other agents outside of the mansion. This time, they decided to take Simpson's van to head to their destination. Ana believed that meeting went on somewhere in Downtown, which was right outside of the North Shore area.

"Ana, wait!" Andy yelled.

Ana turned around and saw Andy head towards the door. He then gave her the "come here" signal. Ana turned towards her fellow agents and told them that she'll be back in a bit.

She followed Andy to where he was taking her. He went into the kitchen, where Tammy was seen near a blender with some kind of liquid in it.

"I thought you might need something like this," he said.

Tammy poured the red liquid inside a water bottle and then sealed it.

"What is this?" Ana said.

Tammy replied, "This stuff is supposed to keep zombies from grabbing you. It helped us when we were out there earlier."

"This will help you, but just know that this stuff won't last long," Andy said. "If the others need some, make sure they take a sip, too."

Tammy handed Ana the water bottle. Ana held it and took a closer look at it. She looked at it like it was some kind of odd substance, but she had to take their word for it. She had gotten lucky in not getting bit the entire time she was there, but there comes a first time for everything. She could get bitten and get infected when she would least expect it.

She took a sip of the bottle and gave a bitter look as she swallowed it. While it wasn't the best tasting drink she had, that didn't matter, as what really mattered was her safety, and possibly the others.

"I'll hold onto this," she said as she strapped the bottle around her neck and shoulder.

"Be careful out there," Andy said.

"I will," Ana said.

She turned around and went back to her team, while the couple looked on as she left.

"Hey, boo, I want to ask you something," Tammy said. "Do you still care about her?"

"What kind of question is that?" Andy said.

"I saw it a few times that she still has feelings for you," she said. "I was wondering if you feel the same for her."

"Come on, you know I love you," Andy said. "But Ana and I go way back, and I still see her as one of my best friends. She knows how we feel about each other. And don't worry about her, whether it's about this or if it's about what she's about to do. She's a strong girl."

"I don't have to worry about her regarding you," Tammy said. "Besides, I like her, too. I am just scared about what will happen out there. But I also saw how she hugged you and how she looked at you at times."

"Like I said, she's a tough girl, and don't worry about that, we talked about that, but she knows about what we have and she is happy for us," he said. "Anyway, she was right. I need to rest a bit. I need to be alone for a bit."

"Go on, baby," Tammy said, as she leaned forward to give him a small peck on the lips. "I need to be alone, too."

Meanwhile, Ana met up with the rest of her team and everyone was off to their destination. Everyone had hoped that this would lead to the end of their mission. They didn't want to spend an extra second in this particular city, but with the information that Ana had gathered, it could lead to the completion, and maybe the military could evacuate the city sooner than everyone thinks.

* * *

**DOWNTOWN, 5:01 PM**

They have now reached their destination. Simpson and Ana got out of the van and looked around and noticed a horde of zombies slowly walking towards them.

"Oh, shit!" Simpson yelled. "We need to run!"

"No," Ana said. "We need to take out any that we can, but we still need to find what we're looking for."

Ana went to the back of the van and picked up an assault rifle. Though she had trained to use firearms, using a rifle of this caliber was rather new to her. But there was no time to learn to use it properly. She aimed at the horde and opened fire on them. The walking corpses started dropping to the ground with her unloading on them. It wasn't easy as they weren't easily taken down by the gunfire, unless they were shot in the head.

Simpson had gotten out his phone. He called Brad to ensure where he and his team were.

"Hey, where are you guys?" Simpson said.

"We are in an alleyway hiding from zombies," Brad said. "Also, it seemed that some gangsters are around trying to hunt for any living person."

"We'll be right there," Bruce said. "Where is this alleyway?"

"It's in between a place called Just A Shot and Big Buck Hardware," Brad said.

Simon sat behind him and had his phone out to try to contact others to meet with them.

"On our way now," Bruce said.

Ana followed Simpson to meet with the two ZDC agents. More zombies approached them, but Ana shot all of them. The zombies had distracted her as her superior and other agents were running to find the ZDC agents.

After the zombies were down, Ana took a deep breath, but then felt something grab her by the shoulders, causing her to drop the gun. The hands were decayed. It could only mean one thing. The zombie's mouth was really close to her neck. So close that it was likely to bite her, but she moved her body to her right to make some distance. She grabbed the zombie by the hand and then bent the arm towards her shoulder and threw the zombie over it, breaking its arm off in the process. She picked up the gun and was on her way to meet with her team.

Simpson saw Brad and Simon sitting down behind a dumpster.

"What the hell is going out here?" Simpson said.

"We're trying to hide from some people," Brad said.

Ana looked down towards them, "What people?"

"Those gangsters and those guys in black suits," Brad said. "They're hunting us down for some reason. We only saw them from a distance. They couldn't have seen us before."

"Someone must have tipped them off, but who?" Simpson said.

"Now's not the time to think about who, we just need to get out of here," Brad said.

Ana heard some footsteps coming up. They sounded like they were going faster, so it didn't seem like they were from zombies. She even heard some whispering voices. She then turned her attention from behind her and noticed a couple of men in black suits with guns in their hands walking up.

"Oh shit!" she yelled and turned around told everyone to run. Only Bruce and Brad got up and ran out the alleyway. Simon was nowhere to be seen, it was like he disappeared in a quick second.

She was there all alone in front of two men.

"Well well, what do we have here?" one of the men said. "Looks we have some girl playing 'zombie killer.'"

She glowered at the condescension from that remark.

"Back up, boys! I'm not afraid to use this," Ana said while she aimed her rifle towards them.

"Yeah right, you don't have the balls, bitch," said the other men.

Knowing what their duty was, one of the men drew a large machine gun and aimed right at her. At a moment's notice, Ana wasted no time in firing the bullets right at him. Blood sprayed right out of the man's chest and dropped to the ground. The partner watched as this happened with so much shock in his face. Out of anger, he raised his shotgun and was ready to shoot her. But she again quickly reacted and gunned him down. It was kill or be killed. She was all on her own at this point, as everyone ran to who knows where.

From out of the end of the alleyway where she was, she noticed a toy store called Slappy's Ultimate Playhouse right on the corner the street and saw a robot bear on display on the window. On the other side was an advertisement of two dolls of Slappy and Suzy.

_Hmmmm, I think I have an idea. I think I saw this in that one movie._

She picked up the large machine gun, but left the assault rifle right by the shotgun. She entered the toy store. Like many businesses in the city, there was no one around. She found some duct tape behind the counter of the store. She took the roll and the gun to the robot bear. Despite being annoyed at it saying things like "I LOVE you!" or "Hello, my name is Lovey Bear!" and doing some weird dance, she realized that there was a use for it. She had seen a movie where something like this was done. She taped the gun around the right arm of the bear and took the ribbon around its neck and put it on its head. She found a switch on the back of the bear and changed it to a different mood.

_I hope this works._ She thought, and then picked up the roll of duct tape, and then also lifted up the bear. She exited the door with the bear in her arms and to her right, she saw more zombies approaching her. She went to the center of the road and then turned on the bear, which now yelled, "Let's get it on!"

Right when she left it on the road, the robot bear opened fire on the zombies that were walking with the large machine gun in hand. Ana looked on with so much surprise on her face, as her little experiment worked like a charm towards the zombies.

She went back to the alleyway and saw that the two guns were still on the ground.

I don't want to have to switch back and forth with these two guns. Maybe if I can make them into a super weapon.

She took a deep breath. She didn't realize that she had a crafty side to her, as she taped the shotgun and the assault rifle together. No time to test it, as she needed to rely on her instincts on how this will work.

She then got on her earpiece, "Hey, Bruce, where are you?"

"Ana! I wondered what happened to you," Simpson said. "Listen, I am holed up right now. I have some of our agents and some other ZDC guys with me. Go find Park and Gates. Park needs some support. He thinks that Gates had ditched him again. I saw them heading west."

_I should have known._ She thought. "I am on it right now."

There was no time to lose. She got out through the other side of the alley and then went westbound. This was not much of a shock to her that Simon had abandoned Park once again. She was now determined to figure out what the deal was.

She ran as fast as she could to find where those guys were. More zombies kept coming out everywhere. It was now time for her to put her weapon to use. A small group of zombies walked towards her and her hand was wrapped about the grip of the shotgun. She shot towards them, and blood sprayed right out of a number of those zombies. A couple of them had their heads blown off. One zombie that looked like it was in an irregular motion, like its arms were reaching towards its back. She shot that one dead, too, and noticed a bee coming out of the remains.

Aware of what the bee does to living creatures if it stings them, she gripped the barrels of the weapon and swung towards it. Much to her surprise, the bee fell to the ground. She looked up and saw more zombies walking towards her and then looked down at the bee and saw it move a tad. As the zombies got closer, she gripped her weapon. It didn't matter which part she gripped, she was ready to open fire. She stomped on the bee in case it was to try to fly and sting again. Before she was about to open fire, the zombies that were approaching her started to convulse and collapse. Some heads exploded on impact. After she moved her foot, she saw the dead bee on the ground. She came to a realization why the zombies had died right before her very eyes.

She was on a mission. She had to look for the ZDC agents. It wasn't long until she came across an intersection that had black vans and a black truck. Many men in black suits and sunglasses stood around with rifles and shotguns drawn. She hid behind a truck that was parked on the street. She took a closer look and noticed that Simon was held at gunpoint and that Brad had slowly approached them and then dropped a weapon.

What's going on here? She thought. She busted out her cellphone and went to the camera part and put it on video to record what was going on.

Out of one of the trucks walked that same man who Ana saw before when she went to the camp by the swamp. The same man who had a black suit and the scar of his face.

_It's him._ She thought. She noticed that he was surrounded by a couple of Phenotrans mercenaries, as well as members of the Caribbean Boyz, and then other Hispanic men wearing suits.

"Well," the scarred man said. "It's nice to see that there are people out there who are willing to lay down the law. I thought that some of your guys were dead. Looks like I was wrong."

"Who the fuck are you?" Brad said.

"I am someone who believes in saving lives, even if it means causing a bunch of shit on a city in order to save them," the scarred man said. "I also don't tolerate failure in my men."

"What are you talking about?" Brad said.

"It seems that some people had also been taking out a few of my men," the scarred man said. "I hadn't heard from my main man Tyler in a while. I also hadn't heard from my girls. It seems like you guys had picked them off one by one. You guys are good, but you're not that good."

Ana continued to watch this go on while recording it.

"It seems like one of my men had failed in eliminating others," the scarred man. "I'm looking at one of those other people right now." He said as he faced Brad.

Brad looked at all of this with so much confusion.

"Listen, Mr. Walters," Simon said.

"Mr. Walters?" Brad said under his breath.

"Simon, you have failed me," Walters said.

"I didn't fail, it's not over yet," Simon said. "I'm not finished!"

"Simon, how do you know his name?" Brad said and looked at Walters. "How do you know HIS name?"

Simon got up when the person let him go. "Um, Brad, well, you see…"

The men drew their guns and aimed it towards Brad, but Simon shook his head and then saw some zombies getting close.

"Brad, it's nothing personal," Simon said and then approached him and then shoved him towards the group of zombies that were approaching them.

Ana moved her face up away from her phone and saw as Brad fell right into the group of zombies. Ana stopped recording and then ran towards him. All of the Phenotrans agents, the Caribbean Boyz, everyone, especially Walters and Simon took off right when Brad had gotten surrounded by the zombies.

Ana wasted no time in running towards the fallen Brad Park and opened fire with her weapon and used the assault rifle part of it and shot each of the zombies dead to prevent Brad from getting eaten alive. She then shot some others with the shotgun part and it cleared everyone out. After all the zombies had dropped, she saw Brad lying there. Ana put her hand to her mouth. It was too late.

"Thank…you," a voice said. Ana heard it and noticed that Brad was still breathing. But then she noticed a mark on his neck.

"Oh no," Ana said. "You've been bitten!"

"Just leave me," Brad said. "I'm going to turn anyway."

"I am not going to do that!" Ana said. "I won't let you turn."

She extended her hand out to help Brad get up. "Get up. I just need to find some Zombrex."

"No, just leave me," Brad said.

"I'm not going to do that," Ana said as she held out her hand. "Get up. Let's get going."

Brad reluctantly agreed to do this, but the fact that his own partner betrayed him right before his very eyes made him want to live to get some retribution. What he wondered was the reason behind it. He was determined to find out.

Ana and Brad had to find a drug store or a hospital that may contain that drug. While it was not going to cure Brad of the virus, it would slow down the process. He may turn, or if he's lucky, it might take a long time for him to turn. He was not about to take that risk just yet.

There was no telling where the nearest hospital or drug store was. Ana got out her phone to find any drug stores that could be nearby. She found a place called Roy's Mart. It was only a few blocks south from there. They were on foot. It would be wise for them to try taking a car to get there, but there was enough walking distance to get there. There was no time to lose, as neither of them knew how long until Brad would turn.

The two walked to find that store. Ana tried to offer Brad her shoulder, but he refused as he was able to walk and function, despite his condition at that moment. He still had his guns on him, whether it was his pistol or his rifle. Ana had her pistol on her as well, but she relied on her hybrid weapon made from the shotgun and the assault rifle.

They walked a few blocks and it was nowhere to be seen. Ana slowly looked around and felt something touch her foot and saw that a zombie had grabbed it. She shot the zombie right in the head with the shotgun part of the weapon. The head was blown to bits. She turned around and noticed another zombie closing in on her and grabbed her by the shoulders. The zombie was close to biting on her the neck. She did everything she could to move her head away to avoid getting bit. She realized that she still had her gun in hand and raised it to poke the zombie right at its chest. She wasn't aware which gun she was holding, so she pulled the trigger and the bullets pierced right through the back of the zombie as she pumped it full of lead. She realized that she used the assault rifle part of it.

Brad shot a few zombies in the head to take them down. Ana turned around and noticed that he looked paler than before.

"Oh no," Ana said.

"What's wrong?" Brad said.

"We have to get you that drug ASA fucking P," Ana said.

She turned around and once she looked forward, she noticed a store that had a sign that said Roy's Mart above it.

"Found it!" she yelled.

The duo ran for the store. It was the one chance that Brad had to prevent him from turning into a zombie. He only got paler, but who knew when he would fully turn?

Ana shot the glass on the door to open it. She ran inside to look for it and then saw a shelf for Zombrex with only one box left. She went right for it and then picked it up, but noticed that the box was open and was empty, too.

"Fuck!" she said.

If the fact that the ZDC agent was bitten wasn't bad enough, she realized that there was no way to slow down the turning process. She didn't want to let him turn, but who would even want that? And what choice did she have?

Out of the corner of her eye, however, was a door that was cracked open to get into the back area of the store, where employees were only allowed. She got up and approached the door and noticed that an African-American couple were sitting towards the back in the place to keep themselves safe. Ana then noticed the loose syringe from the Zombrex box.

"Hi there," Ana said. "Are you guys going to use that syringe right there?"

The man, who was bald, looked over and barely noticed that it was lying there.

"I hadn't seen it there until you said something," the man said. "Me and my wife, we just ran around and had to find somewhere to hide. We figured that this place had some food that we could use, too, so it was so safe for both of us."

"Listen, my partner got infected by the virus, and I need to give that to him," Ana said. "Were either of you bitten?"

"No," the woman said. "My husband and I didn't get bit. This isn't the first time we have gone through something like this."

"Well, I need that needle right there," Ana said. "What are your names?"

The man replied, "My name is Ross, and this is my wife Tonya. We came here for a vacation. Our kids are with my brother. It was just supposed to be a vacation for us two, but then this bullshit happened. How can the same shit happen to someone twice?"

Ana said. "I am Ana, by the way. My partner is Brad. We'll keep you safe."

"We were in the Willamette outbreak seven years ago," Tonya said. "We'll provide some support if you need it."

"Thanks, just watch out for zombies and other crazy people," Ana said.

"You don't know the half of it," Ross said. "I was shot by a crazy mall cop before."

Ana turned around and saw Brad standing there. She picked up the syringe and walked right towards him. Ross and Tonya got up and walked out into the surface to get a good look at him. They were shocked at how pale he was and also from the bite mark on his neck.

Brad looked at the syringe as held it at the palm of his hand. He took a deep breath and then pierced it through the other side of his neck opposite from the bite mark. He injected it into his system as Ana, Ross, and Tonya watched. He then threw the syringe to the ground. Suddenly, his skin started to darken to light shade that he had before.

He knew that this wasn't going to last long for him. What we wanted now was to find more of that drug. But at the moment, he was determined to find Walters and also Simon, with whom he has a bone to pick.

Ana's earpiece started ringing. "Hey, Simpson. What's up?"

"Ana, where are you?"

"I am with Park right now," she said. "He got bit and his partner left him for dead. It seems he is working with Phenotrans, but we don't know what his deal is. We have to find out. I have a video that shows what happened. That guy Walters is behind this operation."

"Shit, this sounds heavy," Simpson said. "What about Park? With him being infected, we can't…"

"Don't worry, I found some Zombrex for him," she said. "He took some, but we need to find more. Did you find anything?"

"Right now, I am pinned down," Simpson said. "We were ambushed. Some of those Phenotrans guys, as well as those gang members, and to me, it looks like some of Mendoza's men are in on the action. Agent Payne has been shot. I need you to bring something to stop the bleeding."

Remembering where she was, Ana noticed that there was a first aid kit close by.

"I am on my way," Ana said. "I found some other survivors here."

"Get them somewhere safe," Simpson said.

"There's no time, maybe I'll tell them to stay put when we get there," Ana said. "We'll be right there."

The conversation had ended. Ross and Tonya got out of the back room with a crowbar and a lead pipe in their hands, respectively.

Brad put a bandage on his neck to cover the wound from the bite. Though he wanted to find more things that he needed, he realized that it was time to take down Phenotrans. He decided to join in on this fight.

"What are you guys waiting for?" Brad said. "Let's go and find those assholes."

Ana cocked the shotgun part of her weapon and put in another magazine on the assault rifle. "Let's kick some ass."

And they were off.

**September 28th**

**6:12 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**41:47:53**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have seen, I added in Ross and Tonya from Dead Rising 1. When I did this, I had contemplated putting them in. I didn't know what scenario was good for them, but then the idea hit me.
> 
> Also, Agent Simpson was talking to General Lyons, who was the antagonist of both live-action Dead Rising films, "Watchtower" and "Endgame." I like to think that those movies are canon as well.
> 
> Brad may have gotten bitten, but it made sense because he was already infected by the events of Dead Rising 3, especially in his DLC expansion, "The Last Agent."
> 
> One more thing, this chapter continues in chapter 19.


	18. Chop Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is centered primarily on Andy and Tammy.

**September 28th**

**6:33 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**41:26:11**

More than two hours had passed since Andy, Tammy, and others had gone back to the safe house. Ana and her fellow agents, including Simpson, took off to go investigate some more, after having gotten some clues that their main target is in town.

Andy lied on the bed in that same bedroom he and Tammy were using before all by his lonesome. He lied there and stared at the ceiling for an extended period of time, wondering how and where everything went wrong with this trip that he had been planning for a while to take his best girl on. First came the zombies, and then came the price on his head.

But why? Why would someone want him dead? Who would even want him dead? He was just a normal guy with a great girl by his side and wanted this trip to be special. The previous day was a special day as he had met his lovely lady on that very day two years prior.

He felt something for her the moment he saw her, even though he was depressed for a few days, especially after the loss of his half-brother, whom he was close with despite the fact that their father had cheated on Andy's mother with another woman, and that Andy harbored some resentment towards his father after that. In no way did he downplay the loss as he still grieved him to this day, but after seeing someone with no way to move, he was not going to let some zombies eat her alive like that. The fact that he went on those two suicide missions to get her clothes was a sign that he wanted to die deep down, but he got really lucky in coming back with Tammy's clothes and belongings.

Currently, it has become an even bigger struggle, for him and his woman. They were only 23 years old and they had to face such a struggle. No one knew if they were going to overcome it.

He was in the bedroom alone. He told his girlfriend that he needed some time to think.

Tammy went somewhere else to do the same, as she had to be alone for a bit. She went into the entertainment room of the house. She sat there and stared blankly at the wall. The TV was right in front of her, but she didn't bother to reach for the remote control. She sat there deep in thought, like something was on her mind. She remembered that yesterday was their two year anniversary, or at least the anniversary of when they first met.

She sometimes asked herself how she developed feelings for Andy in such a short amount of time. She had dated other guys before him, especially Simon, but there was something special about Andy. He could have easily been attracted to her for her stunning looks and body, but that wasn't the case. If it were, he would have gone to try talking to other girls in that safe house at the time. Tammy had seen others such as a showgirl, a blonde girl in her underwear, whom also seemed familiar. There were even three attractive women who saved both of them when the safe house was breached. He had eyes mainly for her and she had eyes for him too. It wasn't just because she thought he was handsome, though. She saw a broken young man, but for some reason she felt for him, felt concern for his well-being despite not knowing him then. But what raised her interest more was that he took charge in getting her some stuff, despite the high risk of getting bitten or worse. With so little to do in the safe house, a connection had sparked at that moment, especially when a lot of that time was spent talking to each other.

After they started dating for real, they got closer and closer. Andy had told her about his half-brother. She had even told him about Simon, with whom she had history. It was bad enough that those two had reunited in this current situation.

Tammy and Simon dated in high school. In fact, they had known each other since they were kids. She did like him until a certain point, as she did date him, until his charming facade crumbled a lot.

Her opinion of him from that point on was far from positive, as he was abusive and unfaithful to her. However, it went further than that, as he had done some terrible things to her like take inappropriate pictures of her without her knowledge and sent them to his friends. He had a drug problem, too, enough he would abuse her if he was under the influence or going through withdrawals. He had also taken part in a prank for a rival school that backfired on him, enough that it cost him a wrestling scholarship and also got him expelled. Simon and Tammy came from some well-off families, in fact, Tammy's parents were friends with Simon's parents, whom had cut off Simon at some point and then he was shipped off to the Navy.

She even wondered how that guy even got a job with the Zombie Defense and Control in the first place. From what her new friend Ana had told her, he had ditched his team numerous times. It didn't help that he got in Andy's face earlier. What he said was disrespectful. She had seen people get rough with others, but this was different. This wasn't someone being blunt and harsh. This guy had a tone that sounded like he talked down to him.

It is often said that people need to let go of things after quite some time, but after all of what Simon had put her through, it would be a long shot until Tammy were to forgive him for everything.

She continued to sit there and think about who may want Andy dead and the reason. She even wondered what could happen next for those two. They've been together for two years, but she was already wondering about getting married and maybe having kids down the road. Not soon, of course, but with her being with him in the present, she thought what the future had in store for both of them and she would like that to happen. She never mentioned it to him, though, because she wasn't sure how he would feel about that.

Just then, she reached for the remote control and turned on the TV to the UBN news.

In other news, more on the Palm Tree Outbreak, FBI and ZDC have reason to believe that this was an act of terrorism, as the remains of canisters have been found in various parts of the city. More on this after the break…

She picked up the remote and shut off the TV. The only thing on her mind was how her boyfriend was doing. She got up and walked out of the room.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Andy sat on the edge of the bed and held something in his hand. That same something was the very item he wanted to give Tammy on this trip: the engagement ring. He stared directly at it and started thinking.

We will make it out of here. I will ask her to marry me and I know she will say yes.

Suddenly, someone came a knocking on the door. He gasped and quickly put the ring in his pocket, because who else could that person be?

"Coming," he said.

He got up and headed directly for the door and opened it to reveal a beautiful redhead woman standing right in front of a handsome blonde guy.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Tammy said.

"I'm fine, baby," he said.

"Are you sure?" she said. "Is something bothering you?"

"No, nothing is bothering me, just been thinking about how this trip went so wrong. I wanted this to be special for both of us, except everything went to shit."

"Baby, we didn't know that this would happen," Tammy put her hand to his face. "We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Yes, but I don't know if we will get out of here," Andy turned his face away from her. "All this bad shit about someone wanting me dead, it makes me want to just end it all."

Tammy's eyes widened and then gasped at what she heard. "Don't say that! Don't you ever say that! I don't want to lose you!"

She then got close to him and then grabbed his shoulders and moved her hands down and wrapped her arms around him.

"Why would you even say that?" her voice cracked a bit, like she was about to cry.

It turned out that her fear came true. She was afraid that he would regress to the same suicidal man that he was when they first met. Even during that time, she was worried for him, despite barely knowing him. Now that they have been together for two years and having gotten to know him much better, her concern was much stronger than before.

"Come on, I don't mean it," Andy said and then wrapped his arms around her. "I was just saying because I am scared. I know I was brave enough to be out there, you were, too. But I am also scared that we won't make out of here. I am even scared of you becoming one of them."

While he had his arms around her, he ran his left hand down her back.

"I didn't mean anything by what I said. I have too much to live for, especially you. Remember when we first met? We just clicked like that. You made me see that I should still keep going. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Tammy said. "I can't live without you. If you died, I don't know what would happen to me. You were the one guy who saw me for more than just my looks and body. You saw me as a person, a person with feelings and a lot to live for."

Tears started running more on her face that she put it right on his shoulder.

"I am scared of losing you, too," Andy said. "But we're a team. We're in this together, you and I. We will get out of here soon. I know we will get out of here."

He continued to run his hands down her back and then kissed her on the cheek.

"Andy," Tammy said with her head in his shoulders with tears running down her eyes. "It's time we talk about this." She paused and then cleared her throat, "Tell me about that nightmare you had two weeks ago. What happened in that dream?"

Andy trembled a bit after she said that. He paused at the reluctance of even responding to it, but knowing that their relationship was built around trust, loyalty, and the most important key of all, love, it needed to come out. He took a deep breath and just let it out.

"I had a dream that you turned into a zombie."

Tammy's jaw dropped when she heard that, but there was a side of her that suspected that there was more to it. "What else happened in that dream?"

Andy took another deep breath. "In this dream, I dreamt that we were getting married and that a lot of people had turned into zombies and started eating everyone. Then you turned into one and you were about to eat me. Then I woke up."

Tammy stood there with nothing to respond. Her jaw dropped and then looked away, whether it's to her sides or to the floor. She was speechless. Maybe all those signs were coming together for her. When she and Andy went to the fortune teller before, the card could have been a sign. She, herself, even grasped at the idea of marriage. Knowing that Andy's parents weren't together, she had sensed that he couldn't see that happening to them, but she was wrong, but that didn't mean she was mad about it. Not even close.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tammy said. "Wait, yesterday was our anniversary, and…"

Andy backed up a tad and his left hand reached for the pocket.

"Oh my god," she said. "I know what this was about. I have a good idea what you wanted to do on this trip." Suddenly, a smile rose on her face and a tear of joy trickled down her face. It didn't take long for her to figure it out what everything meant.

Andy put his hand in the pocket and took it out and at the tip of his fingers was the ring. Tammy covered her nose and mouth with her hands. She couldn't believe what was right in front of her.

"I wanted to do this yesterday," Andy said and then dropped to his left knee. "But then came everything else. I wanted to wait until we left, because I wanted to surprise you, but I just needed to let it out there. Tamara Amanda Blaine, will you…?"

"Yes!" she said without hesitation. "Come on, you know what I was going to say. I will marry you, Andrew Richard Talbat!"

Suddenly, Andy started to smile and then got back to his feet completely. He wrapped his arms around her, despite the tingling sensation that he felt when the girl of his dreams said yes, even though it wasn't what he had planned, but when would he get the chance? He needed to let her know.

Butterflies were flying in Tammy's system, as she moved her face forward and then locked her lips against his and they kissed each other.

"Baby, listen, I'm going to hold on to the ring," he said.

"What? Why?" she said.

"I don't want to tell anybody just yet," Andy said. "I promise that I will give you the ring when we leave this shithole."

"You're right," Tammy said. "Now's not the time."

"Right now, I want to go and get to the bottom of all this shit," he said. "But first, I need to check something."

Andy put the ring back in his pocket. Tammy was in agreement about this, as happy as she was about the proposal. It was not the time to let anybody know. She didn't even let anybody on social media about where she was, as it would be alarming to everyone as this whole outbreak had made national news, like the other ones before it.

Before, they exited the room, they changed their shirts, because they got ripped and had blood on them. They went through their suitcases and they each found a shirt that they could wear. Despite the warm weather, Andy found a jacket that he got sometime before that had a Terror Is Reality logo on it and a T-shirt that had Mega Man X on it. While Tammy found a black shirt that she could wear, along with another denim jacket, as she let that one stripper keep the other one.

The couple then left the room and walked down the stairs. A lot of the fellow survivors were doing their own thing, whether it was interacting with others or just sitting around and doing nothing. There was one person who Andy wanted to talk to.

"Hey, Rhonda," he said.

The attractive tattooed brunette turned around after she was talking to her husband.

"Yes, sugar," she said.

"I understand that you're a great mechanic, right?"

"That's what I've been told," she said. "I know a lot about fixing cars."

"Well," Andy said. "I was wondering if you know also know anything about modifying cars or other vehicles."

"Have you ever pimped someone's ride or added any other things to it?" he asked.

"I have done something like that before," Rhonda said.

"Well," Andy paused, because an idea had just hit him, as outlandish it may seem. "Would you know anything about putting a plow on a bus? Or putting parts of tractors onto a truck onto a something."

"What do you mean?" Rhonda said.

"I mean like putting the front end of a plow on the front of a bus, so that it would be easier to run over zombies."

Rhonda put her right hand on her chin with her thumb and index finger close to her mouth as she smirked at the idea.

"You know, you may be onto something here, honey," she said. "This sounds like a good idea. I fixed that bus, by the way. It just had some minor problems, but this idea may sound hard, but it's nothing I can't handle. We just need to find a tractor or something. I wonder where we could find a scrapyard, or a garage."

"We'll have to find one, there has to be one somewhere in town," Andy said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Rhonda said.

"Hold on, Rhonda," a deep New York-accented voice said from a distance.

Rhonda looked forward, while Andy and Tammy turned around and noticed Gary standing before them.

"I am coming, too," he said. "I need to make sure that my Rhonda comes back in one piece and to make sure no zombies don't try nothin'."

"Okay, sounds good," Andy said. "I'll check to find a junkyard in the city. They got to have some cars or tractors that we can use."

Andy got out his phone to check his GPS to find a junkyard in the city. One of the closest ones that he could find was out in Little Santiago, which would be problematic as that was the turf of the Caribbean Boyz, whom had some issues with Andy from before. But as long he steers clear of them, he, along with everyone else, should be fine. On the other hand, maybe those guys might know someone may want Andy dead. At one point, Andy was sure that it was their boss Ricardo, but now he was not so sure.

Whatever the case was, it was not going to stop them from looking for parts to upgrade the bus. For all he knew, it was possible that it was the only to get out of the city alive.

The four walked around the mansion and through a window, they saw an African-American man with a bus driver uniform outside smoking a cigarette. It turned out to be George.

They got out in the backyard area, and George stood on top of a staircase with a balcony on the side.

"Hey, George," Andy said. "I was thinking. Do you think maybe we can use your bus right now?"

"Whoa whoa, what's going on here?" George said.

"We want to conduct an experiment," Andy said. "Rhonda fixed your bus, right? We were going to see if she could upgrade your bus a bit."

"Well, why didn't you say so the first time?" George said. "If you want me to drive, just ask."

"Can you drive us there?" Andy said. "It's a junkyard out in Little Santiago."

"I think I know the place," George said. "I'll take you there."

* * *

**LITTLE SANTIAGO, 7:21 PM**

With George driving the bus around, it was quite a help, especially since the truck that Andy drove himself and Tammy around was left behind at that convention center in North Shore.

It was also after 7 at night, which meant that when it got dark, the zombies become more aggressive and harder to kill. Everyone had to be prepared, especially when the undead would follow their prey.

They arrived at the junkyard. It had a gate, which was sealed shut, but lucky for them, there was a door to the right of the gate. Andy headed for it and noticed that it was unlocked.

_That's weird._ He thought, but he went ahead and opened it. On the other side of the fence was a switch. He hit the switch and then the door started to slide open. George slowly drove the bus right inside the yard. Rhonda looked around and noticed something fishy about this place. Though there was a garage in the yard, what she also noticed was that some of the cars, or at least some of the bodies of the cars looked newer than what one would expect in a place like a junkyard.

"Something tells me that this isn't just a regular scrapyard," she said.

"What do you mean?" Tammy said as she looked around the yard. "Wait, these cars don't look that banged up or old."

"This looks like a chop shop to me," Rhonda said. "But that's neither here nor there, it's not like what we're doing is any better. Besides, we don't have a lot of options right now."

Andy looked around to see if there were any survivors or anything that could be useful for what they're about to do. He was sure to help out, because he didn't want to leave Rhonda to do all the work on the vehicle.

Tammy stood with Rhonda and looked around to see if there was something that could be used. Suddenly, she noticed a stolen tractor that had not been chopped up. It looked like it had recently been delivered there and they were going be the ones to take it apart.

"I found something!" she said. Rhonda got close to her as she pointed at the machine.

"Good work, sweetie," Rhonda said. "Now, all's we need is some equipment.

She went and approached the garage to find the right tools she would need, whether it was a torch, a mask, a jack, impact driver, anything that would be useful. She picked up the tools, while George and Gary helped with other equipment that was necessary for this job.

From a distance, inside a room, a man was lying on a bed and then ascended and saw a big man with long brown hair, along with a curvy brunette woman, and an African-American man in a bus driver's uniform carrying some equipment. Also, from a distance, he noticed a young blonde-haired man with a young red-haired woman as the group was carrying all that equipment.

He lied back down after seeing them, or did he?

Andy started up the tractor to bring it closer. Rhonda, Gary, and Tammy signaled to bring it closer and to stop.

"That's good, Andy, you can stop it now," Rhonda said.

Andy stopped the machine and then got out. He realized that they need to break the plow off the front end, but what could they use? Andy went into the garage to look for more tools to use. As he was looking around, the strange man who was in that room looked through the window once again.

Andy continued to look around and then found something useful: a cement saw. He also grabbed a pair of dark goggles just in case he needed them. He the tool out and handed it to Rhonda so that she could use it.

She started up the saw and started to cut through the arms that were holding the plow. Sparks flew everywhere. Everyone was out of the way of the master at work. It was as if she didn't need anybody else's help.

Gary walked up to the couple.

"Hey, kid, did I tell you that my wife is a great mechanic?" he said.

"Yeah, you did," Andy said.

"I didn't know she was THAT good," Tammy said.

Andy and Tammy stood there and watched Rhonda in awe as she worked on the project of hooking the plow to the bus.

"Hey, kid, did I see you looking at my woman?" Gary said.

Andy jumped at that remark. "Wait, what?"

"I saw you looking at her," Gary said.

"Nah, man, I am just impressed by your wife, though she is pretty, but I have a beautiful woman right here, too."

Tammy blushed at that remark.

"Relax, kid, I'm just messing with you," Gary said. "Besides, a lot of fans have checked out my Rhonda when she walks me to the ring."

After the plow was cut off, Rhonda looked towards everyone in the yard as she noticed them watching her work. She walked towards the bus and pulled down the little bike rack on the front end.

"Hey, Andy, come here," Rhonda said. "Do you think maybe you can help me lift the plow and hold it on that side?"

"Sure thing," he said.

He went over there to help her lift it.

"Hey, I am going to weld this into that rack," she said. "You might want to get some goggles or a mask."

"I am way ahead of you," he said.

The two other guys and Tammy stood there and watched. But unbeknownst to them, the strange man had gotten out of the room with a blow torch and a shotgun with a pitchfork taped to it.

Andy put on the dark goggles while Rhonda put on the mask. She immediately went to town on welding the plow right to the bike rack on her side. Andy signaled her to pass the torch over to him. He did say that he didn't want to have Rhonda do all the work and it was time for him to contribute a bit. He lit the torch and welded it on his end. The plow was sturdily placed on there. The plow was big enough that it could plow right through hordes of zombies.

"Success," Rhonda said. "I bet I could try to do some more here. I see some more potential around here."

As they looked at the job that was done, their backs were turned towards the garage. Footsteps were heard by Tammy and Gary, who had turned around and noticed the strange man that they didn't see.

"What are you doing in my yard?" the man said, as he stood there with a welding mask on but it didn't cover his face, as well as holding a shotgun with a pitchfork and with a blowtorch strapped to his back. "You're trespassing on my yard." He then cocked his weapon.

Andy stepped forward. "Sorry, man, we didn't know that anybody was here. We just needed to find something to use for this bus right here."

"So you decided to steal some of my collection?" the mechanic said.

"Well, all of these cars here ARE stolen, aren't they?" Rhonda said.

"That don't matter, woman," the mechanic said.

"Hey, who are you calling 'woman,' asshole?" Rhonda said.

Gary stepped in, "Hey, that's my wife you're talking to, so step the fuck off."

The mechanic looked at everyone, especially Rhonda. "I didn't know that some girls knew how to do a man's job."

A scowl grew on Rhonda's face after that was said and she started walking towards the mechanic in anger. Andy and Tammy quickly approached her to calm her down about that remark.

"I know you, fella," the mechanic said. "You're that wrestler on TV. I didn't know your lady knew how to do this kind of thing. I always liked what I saw when she came out with you. Maybe she can be mine, instead."

Gary reacted at that remark and was ready to attack him in retaliation, only for his stomach to be poke by the pitchfork that was taped to the shotgun.

"Try anything stupid, and I will cut you open and blow you away," the mechanic said.

"Listen, we don't want any trouble," George said. "We will get out of your hair soon."

"Yeah, you don't have to do this," Andy said. "We'll just get out of here."

Just then, the mechanic looked right at Andy. "Not so fast, you little shit. I heard about you. People have said that you started the outbreak, or at least that's what the word on the street is."

Confusion grew on Andy's face, as Tammy and Rhonda looked right at him.

Tammy whispered, "What is he talking about?"

Andy raised his shoulders with a look on his face that said "I don't know."

"I can use that money to start a new garage," the mechanic said. "My big brother died in Still Creek and I ain't gonna follow in his footsteps. I can kill you now and get paid. My brother was killed by a man who had the same description. Blonde hair, blue eyes, maybe you're him."

"Wait, what? That wasn't me!" Andy said. "I have never been to Still Creek! I don't know who your brother is!"

"Don't matter, I don't like trespassers and that money is mine," the mechanic said.

Tammy looked at Andy, as did Rhonda. Andy signaled them to walk away and mouthed to them to find some weapons that they could use. He knew what he was getting into right then, but there was no getting out of it, especially now that someone had accused him of starting the outbreak.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: BUD WRIGHT**

With the ladies and the other two men out of sight, Andy stood right before Bud, but had nothing to fight him with. He saw a lead pipe lying on the ground. He reached for it and picked it up. Bud had a shotgun and a blowtorch, but it was better than nothing.

Bud aimed his hybrid weapon and yelled out, "This is my Boomstick!" He pulled the trigger, but Andy quickly jumped out of sight once the shell was shot. He noticed that Bud was walking somewhere else because he wanted to look for the others. Andy seized that opportunity to sneak up behind him and whack him in the back with the pipe, but Bud turned around. Andy felt a slight poke into his stomach as the pitchfork was close to puncturing him. Bud moved it forward to poke it further into his body. He started to impale it into Andy's body a bit, which caused him to yell a bit, but it wasn't so deep.

Tammy came out from behind a broken car and hit Bud in the back of the head with a large pipe. Bud moved forward from the attack, but then dropped the Boomstick weapon and then fell from Andy's abdomen, where he noticed some blood dripping.

The attack didn't knock out Bud, however. He turned around and noticed Tammy holding the pipe in her hands. The only thing he could do was laugh as his sexism was displayed once again.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't ya?" he said. "Well, ya ain't gonna be so pretty for much longer."

Tammy tried to swing the pipe but Bud quickly blocked the attack with his left hand as he reached for the torch with his right hand. He lit up the torch and grabbed her by the shoulder. She start to shake and wince at what he was about to do. He brandished the torch with fire having emitted from it and slowly moved it close to her face.

"This won't hurt a bit, trust me," Bud said with an evil smile on his face.

She panted as Bud gripped the back of her neck. She looked like she was about to cry from the pressure of being seared. Bud fiddled with the torch. As it got closer to her face, the flame flickered a bit, one moment had the flame come close to her skin, but it barely missed. Tammy had backed her face away from the burning torch. Bud got close, but then someone yelled from above.

"Hey, asshole! Why don't you leave her alone?" a woman's voice said.

Bud then moved the torch away from Tammy and looked up and saw Rhonda standing on top of two cars and brandished a large wrench. She then jumped and she descended from the jump, she swung the wrench downward. Tammy quickly punched Bud in the face, causing him to let her go. Bud was met with the wrench to his shoulder. Rhonda may have missed the head, what she intended to hit, but it hurt Bud quite a bit.

Rhonda picked up the wrench and then looked Bud in the eye with a scowl and mouthed "Come on!"

Bud thought that he could just take her down nicely and easily. So he walked away and went right for the Boomstick. Wasn't a good move as Rhonda ran and then clocked him in the back with the wrench again. Bud bent over from the impact of the attack, but it left him a window to pick up the weapon he was using.

"You got a lot of heart, lady, I didn't think that you were this tough," Bud said with half a smile. "But that wrench could only get ya so far."

Bud light up the torch once again, but this time, Rhonda was his target. He went right for her. From his right, a man ran and tackled him to the ground. Bud fell right to his side, as he still had that tank strapped to his back.

Who else could it have been than Gary?

"Hey, man, I'll teach you to mess with my woman," Gary said. "Don't you ever lay your hand on her!"

Bud then got up. Gary punched the palm of his left hand and popped his knuckles. Bud unstrapped the tank, realizing that he didn't need it at that point.

"Come on, let's see if you can do this shit for real," Bud said.

"Oh, I'll show you what's real," Gary said.

Bud ran right for him to deliver a hard punch, but Gary quickly dodged. Bud turned around after he missed and Gary delivered a hard clothesline. He then chopped him right in the chest like Ric Flair. He chopped him a few more times and delivered another clothesline. Bud grabbed Gary by the neck and gripped it pretty hard, but then felt a hard knee to his nuts, as Gary attacked right down there. Bud released his hands from the neck. Gary wrapped his arms around him and then turned around and slammed him right to the ground. In other words, he delivered a side belly-to-belly suplex. When Bud landed, he hit his back against the tank, causing the valve to loosen a tad.

Bud got up once again, but noticed that the Boomstick would just be too easy, as he wanted to kill everyone in a slow and painful way. He saw a chainsaw lying around. He picked it up and pulled the cord to start it up. The motor drew the attention of Tammy, Rhonda, and Gary, who turned around.

"It's a good day to die, isn't it?" Bud said.

"No, it never is," a voice said. Bud turned around and saw Andy standing there with the lead pipe. Bud did not hold back as he wanted that money, so he swung the chainsaw forward. Tammy stood there with Rhonda and Gary as this was going on.

"Oh no, I can't watch!" she turned he head away as she feared that this man, who was bigger than her boyfriend, and also wielding a deadly power tool, would slash him open or into pieces. Andy quickly held the pipe up, guarding the attack. Sparks flew as the chainsaw was slowly cutting through the pipe, but Andy quickly reacted and delivered a hard front kick to his balls. The chainsaw from Bud's hands and landed adjacent to the fuel tank that he wore. The chain barely cut right through the valve, causing a leak right by some cars. Bud fell to the ground right by his weapons, except for the Boomstick, as it was a little further away.

Andy looked up and saw the other three, and George, who was hiding, barely got out of his hiding place and walked up to the quartet.

"Baby, are you okay?" Tammy asked.

"I'm fine, honey," Andy said.

They hugged each other right then.

The fuel line on the tank had been cut and was leaking. Bud lied there after he got his ass kicked by a guy who was much smaller than him. He didn't think he was done though, as he failed to notice that the fuel was leaking. He got up and then picked up the tank and grabbed the torch. He gripped the torch.

"I ain't done yet, you little shit!" he yelled.

Andy turned around, and everyone else turned to face Bud.

"That money is mine, ya hear?!" Bud said and then right when he lit the torch, his whole body caught on fire. His whole body immolated as he did not notice that the fuel had leaked. His whole skin started burning as he yelled from all the pain he suffered.

"Man, it just got hotter here," Andy said.

Bud's body burned alive and moved until he dropped to his death.

"Wow, I didn't see that coming," Tammy said.

"Something tells me he wasn't that smart or good at what he did," Rhonda said.

Everyone started to walk towards the bus that was modified with the tractor plow. George had opened the door for everyone to enter the bus. Tammy got on first, and then Gary and Rhonda followed, as Andy was the last in line.

Andy walked towards the bus, but then from behind, a man wrapped a chain around his neck and started strangling him. Everyone looked through the window and saw that it was Bud, but was badly burned. He was not dead from the blast. He strangled Andy. Tammy quickly ran towards the door.

"Tammy, wait!" Rhonda yelled.

However, right when she exited, Andy headbutted the burnt Bud on his face with the back of his head. Bud released the chain and Andy turned around and lifted Bud from his feet and threw him over his shoulder. The chain somehow wrapped around his burnt neck. Andy grabbed the chain and pulled it, causing it to snap Bud's neck.

He looked down and saw that he wasn't moving and then looked up and saw Tammy.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

"I'm with you on that," she said.

George started the bus. It started to beep as he was moving it in reverse, but as soon as he turned it, he put it in drive and they were off.

After they got out of the chop shop/junkyard, Andy's and Tammy's transceivers had started to ring. Andy looked to his girlfriend and said that he would answer it.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Mr. Talbat?" It turned out to be Paulson.

"Call me Andy."

"Hey, I am just telling you that might want to go help out Torres and some of the others," Paulson said. "They got into a bit of a pickle."

"Where are they?" Andy said.

"They're somewhere downtown," Paulson said. "I will give you the street that Torres said she was at."

"We're on it," Andy said and then hung up. "Hey, George, my friend is in trouble. Can you take us downtown?"

"Sure thing, kid," George said.

Tammy looked right at him when he made that request.

"What are you doing?" she said.

"Ana's in trouble; seems like some heavy shit went down," Andy said. "We have to go help her. If we find more people, we can have George take them back to the safe house."

The modifications that they made to the bus worked wonders as the plow had gone through the zombies easily. Many zombies fell out of the way as they were being plowed through. If only something weren't about to take a turn for the worse. They were still in Little Santiago, after all.

A few cars blocked the road. The headlights shined right on the people inside the cars. The bus went to a stop and the people had exited the cars, one of whom looked familiar.

George stopped the bus and the men were carrying weapons, such as pipes, baseball bats, crowbars, and some even had guns, too.

Andy looked through the window and realized who they were. He realized that he had to face this sooner or later. His girlfriend tried to stop him from getting out, but because he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he had to confront it somehow.

Andy walked to the front and told George to let him off. He walked out through the door.

"Well well, if it ain't that same clever gringo," the familiar gang member with a shaved head and a shirt with a Cuban flag on it. "You know, we tried to make it easy for you earlier, but you just didn't want to listen. But either way, we had to make sure we would find you somehow."

"Just tell your fucking boss that what we did yesterday was self-defense," Andy said. "If he has a problem with me, then maybe he should confront me like a man."

Tammy, Gary, and Rhonda watched as this was going on.

_Baby, what are you doing?_ Tammy thought to herself.

Rhonda leaned towards her and said, "No offense, sweetie, but I don't know if your boyfriend is brave or just plain stupid."

"It's not about what happened, it's about the money, fool," the gang member said. "And that money is ours."

""What the fuck does the Gatekeeper want with me?" Andy said. "WHO is the Gatekeeper?"

From a distance, three women hiding in the shadows watched as this went on.

"Wait, is that who I think it is?" one woman said.

"It looks like him," another woman said.

"Maybe we should help him," the third woman said. "If that's him, he still owes us from before."

The gang member tried to negotiate, "Come on, come with us, and I promise we won't hurt you."

Andy didn't trust this guy, at all. He wasn't sure what was up his sleeve, so he said, "no, I won't do it."

"I tried to be reasonable," the gang member said. "Boys, do your thing."

The other gang members walked towards him with the melee weapons and were ready to strike. Out of nowhere, a hard kick was met to the face of one of the other gangsters. Another one was punched in the face by someone. The third gang member was knocked off his feet as a woman delivered a hard dropkick to the face. Andy looked up and noticed three attractive women in some tight clothing. One was a mixed woman as she looked half-black and half-white and wore a black cowboy hat and wore a black button-down shirt with a knot tied at the bottom and tight-fitting jeans. Another one was a white girl with dark brown hair and wore a black crop tank top. The last one was a Latina and had on a white button down shirt that exposed her midriff a bit and had it unbuttoned at the top, exposing her cleavage and was wearing black pants that were tight.

"Wait a minute," Andy said. "Cora? Nina? Summer? Is that you?"

Everyone else on the bus looked at the three women like they were impressed, but Tammy looked closer as the trio looked familiar to her.

"Andy," said the woman with the cowboy hat. "Pleasure running into you here. I didn't expect to see you. How long has it been?"

"Two years, you three saved me from those looters and those zombies," he said.

Tammy walked off the bus and towards him.

"You ladies remember Tammy, right?" Andy said.

The Hispanic woman looked at her with a bit of derision. She remembered that she almost had sex with Andy that one time, as well as that she was jealous of Tammy.

"Hello, Tammy," the Hispanic woman said. "I am Summer, nice to finally meet you."

"Same here, I think I remember you three now," Tammy said and looked towards the other two ladies. "What are your names by the way?"

The woman with the cowboy hat replied, "I am Cora."

The woman in black replied, "And I'm Nina. We're the Guardian Angels and we just happened to find you guys at the right moment."

"This isn't the first time we saved your boyfriend's ass," Summer said, as she looked towards Andy. "Isn't that right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right," Andy said. "Anyway, we're on our way somewhere. We have to help out our friend."

"We can help you," Cora said.

"I am afraid that I don't have that kind of money to pay you," Andy said.

"Don't worry, it's on us," Cora said. "We like you, so think of it as a favor."

"Thank you," Tammy said.

The couple, along with the trio walked onto the bus to go help out Ana. If only they knew what they were getting themselves into.

**September 28th**

**8:35 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**39:24:09**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I had started this story, I had thought about putting in the three bodyguards from Dead Rising 2. Also, regarding Summer's behavior, it's a callback to a few chapters in Fortune City Survivor Stories like "Andy's Flashbacks," "Breach," and "Andy's Hot Summer."
> 
> Also, the psychopath in this is the brother of Jed Wright from Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. I just thought I'd pay homage to that.


	19. No Time to Lose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is no time as a fellow agent is hurt. Ana must get him some medical attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As noted before, this picks up after chapter 17. It will pick up after chapter 18 later in the chapter.

**September 28th**

**6:24 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**41:35:29**

It had been more than 10 minutes since Ana had spoken to her superior. There was no time to waste at that point, especially with a fellow agent having been shot. Who knows whether or not that agent would make it or not? The agent could bleed out or worse yet, get infected if zombie blood were to make it into the wound.

Ana remembered that she had that drink with her. She never finished it, so once she could put a bandage on the wounded agent, she could give him some of that drink to ensure that a zombie would not try to grab him. At some point, before she, Brad, as well as Ross and Tonya left Roy's Mart, she had to look up the drink she had with her. It turned out that a website called Tape It or Die had posts about ways of survival in a zombie outbreak. Not just with weapons, but she somehow came across an article about mixing foods to make drinks. One thing that she noticed was a drink that would be made if she mixed any sort of dairy product or even wine while she was at it. It would help people run faster.

Because her old friend who also happened to be an old boyfriend of hers, along with his current girlfriend had shown her about mixing certain foods to make drinks, she had to take the word of these bloggers as well. Also, there wasn't much time, so the group had to get to Simpson and the wounded agent as fast as they could. Nor was it the time to see about the other drinks that could be made.

Being that Roy's Mart also sold food, she had grabbed a block of cheese and half a gallon of milk. There was one problem, though: they needed a blender.

Within that amount of time, they tried to look for a place that had a blender of any sort, even if it meant breaking into a retailer and just breaking the box open to get it out and find an outlet to plug it on. It's not like any employees or managers were around to stop them from doing it. They had to figure out something. It had only been about 10 minutes since they left Roy's Mart, so the milk and cheese hadn't spoiled by that point.

"How am I supposed to mix these two now?" she said.

"Hey, look over there," Tonya said as she pointed to a business that was on the same street called "Jumping Juicers," which appeared to be a place where people would get smoothies and other types of juice.

"Thanks, Tonya," Ana said. She led the way for Brad and the couple to follow her. Zombies were coming their way. One zombie was about grab Ross, but right before the hands could come onto him, the hands just dropped low.

"This stuff DOES work," he said.

Ana walked into the empty the empty juice shop. Right behind the counter was a blender. She went right for it and once she went behind the counter, she broke open the plastic for the cheese and then unsealed the jug of milk. She put the whole block of cheese in the blender and then poured the milk into the blender.

As the three stood around patiently, Tonya shifted her attention towards the door, which was open and in walked a walking decaying corpse.

"Oh shit," she said.

Being that this wasn't the first time she and her husband were in an outbreak, she had some developed some vigilance and a little bit of skills in combat to use in this situation. She went ahead and went right for the zombie. Right before she could swing her pipe, the zombie tried to grab her by the shoulders. Being that the effects of the drink was in full swing in that moment, the zombie just couldn't grab her. So she raised the pipe and swung it right to its head. On impact, blood had squirted right out of its head and then the zombie just dropped to the floor.

Tonya and Ross, as well as Brad look at the now-completely-dead zombie and saw that it wasn't moving.

Ana had finished blending the foods together and saw that it became a white liquid, but it didn't look like milk, either. Judging from the post that she read about drinks, each of them had a specific color. When she saw that the red stuff matched the description on what it does when drinking it, it was now time to see if this particular drink actually worked.

She was able to find some cups, along with caps and straws. She poured the liquid into four of them and put the caps and straws into them.

"Alright, guys, here are your drinks," she said. Right on the counter where a cash register was, there were three cups. Brad, Ross, and Tonya each picked up a cup and started drinking the substance. Ana did the same thing as she stood behind the counter.

Regardless of how it tasted, the quartet felt a boost of energy in their system suddenly. There was no time to lose; it was now time to go help out the fellow agents.

"Okay, everyone, follow me," she said.

She was the first to exit the shop, as the three followed her outside. She started to move a little faster than before.

"Okay, let's start running now," she said.

The moment she started to run, she saw that she ran faster than normal, as did the other three people who were with her. She knew that this wasn't going to last, so they all had to make the most of the ability that the drink gave them.

At that speed, they would arrive on the scene where Agent Simpson and the others were in no time. Who knew whether Agent Payne would even survive? It's a good thing that one of them was carrying the first aid kit to bring to him. How long would he last? How much blood has he lost? Could he possibly become infected? They had to find out sooner or later, but better sooner than later.

Considering that the effects of the red drink were still in their systems, zombies had not tried grabbing them. They ran as fast they could. They were able to sprint really fast with the effects from the white drink.

They ran through the hordes of zombies when it was open enough for them to go through. If some got in the way, they would knock one down or just kill some. They were already dead, anyway.

After a few blocks, they finally found an alley that had Simpson, Payne, and a few other agents hiding from any members of the Caribbean Boyz, any Phenotrans mercenaries or even what appeared to be some of Mendoza's soldiers. It wasn't hard to separate who were the Caribbean Boyz or any of Mendoza's soldiers as the former were dressed casually while the latter were dressed in suits or with khakis and expensive shirts.

As Ana and the group approached them, Simpson looked up with surprise.

"Wow, you got here pretty fast," Simpson said.

"We didn't want to waste time," Ana said. "How's Payne doing?"

Ana looked up and saw an African-American agent who was lying there but had blood leaking out of his stomach. He looked like he had lost some blood, but how much was the real question.

Ross and Tonya looked at him and their jaws lowered from the sight of that.

"This brings back bad memories," Ross said.

Tonya had the first aid kit in her hand. "I'll handle this."

Ever since she and Ross had gotten into that incident at the Willamette Parkview Mall seven years prior, she had decided on pursuing the medical field, particularly nursing. After seeing Ross get shot and having to patch him up from that gunshot, it was something that she wanted to pursue.

She went right towards the hurt agent and asked him to open up his shirt.

"Hey, isn't that that bitch who grabbed our homie by the nuts?" said one of the gang members. "Hey, honey, why don't you try grabbing my dick and nuts sometime? I know you would like it."

"Hey, fuck you!" Ana said.

"Last chance, bitch," said the gang member.

Ana did not respond to that, as what was said was beyond immature and inappropriate even for her. Two gang members, including the one who made those creepy comments towards her started to draw his weapon.

"Okay, if you don't want it, fine, puta," he called her a derogatory term in Spanish. "Be that way."

She knew exactly what he called her, but she wasn't about to get out because it was likely a trap.

Tonya continued to look at Payne's wound while Ross stood guard with Brad and Ana, except he wasn't armed with the right hardware for the situation that they were in.

She saw right on his stomach. It looked like he had lost some blood. Ross walked towards his wife while she was checking on this guy. Ross looked and noticed that some blood had come out of his back, but it wasn't a lot.

"Hey, Tonya, it looks like the bullet had gone through his back, so he could be saved," he said.

"I hope you're right," Tonya said. "Remember when you got shot? You got really lucky."

"I did, and a lot of it was thanks to you," Ross said.

"So, miss, how do I look?" Agent Payne said.

"Listen, I could a bandage on your stomach and one on your back for now," Tonya said. "But it won't last. I think I might need to take you to hospital."

Realizing that he might not make it, it was only a matter of time until he could lose more blood, but he had to try to get some kind of treatment to see if he can survive this horror, assuming that the undead had not found themselves inside a medical facility. The bullet that shot him had gotten out through the exit wound in his back, so he had nothing to worry about the bullet being in him. However, he was badly injured.

Ross had addressed to Payne that he had gone through the same thing. He was afraid that he could not move and had to rely on a photographer to carry him back to a safe haven while Tonya followed them. Fortunately for him, he was patched up and he realized that he was able to walk just fine after a while. It's possible that Payne might have the same condition that Ross did years prior, but no one can confirm it.

Ana and Brad stood to the side to stand guard against the hooligans, awaiting their move of attack if anything happens. While her fellow agent was being treated, she turned her attention to check on him. She told Brad that if anybody tried to come for them that he and the other agents should try to keep them at bay.

"I got your backs on this," Brad said.

Ana had gotten closer to them.

"Hey, Payne, how are you holding up?" she said.

"Torres, I could be a lot better," Payne said. "I could use some more medical attention."

"Listen, I will help you get to a hospital," Ana said. "Let me see if the coast is clear now."

She walked back to the corner where Brad was standing.

"Whoa, whoa, where are you going?" he said.

"I have to see if the coast is clear, he needs to be taken to a hospital," she said.

Brad took a minor peak from the corner and noticed that not only the same two guys were there, but the number had increased, as more of the street gangsters had shown up, along with a few of Mendoza's soldiers and some of Phenotrans' mercenaries.

"Yeah, we would be dead by the time we got out there," Brad said.

Ana turned around and just remembered that they were standing in alleyway. There was the opposite and no one knew if it was clear enough to walk through. The number of zombies may have increased, but the main thing that they had to worry about were the live people who were hunting everyone down.

She slowly walked across. With the couple tending to aid the injured agent, as well as her superior and fellow operatives stood there in safety, she had to make sure that there was anybody on the other end.

Once she got to the opposite end of the alley, she peaked over on both sides and it looked like it was a clear coast. There weren't any gangsters or mercenaries to be found.

Ana turned around and walked towards the couple and the injured agent. She signaled to Brad to meet her halfway.

"Hey, I will look at my GPS to see where the nearest hospital is," Ana said to Payne. "We really need to get you there."

"Wait, what about those gangsters?" Ross said.

"Don't worry about them or us," a voice had said. They all turned around saw that it was Simpson who said it.

"You guys get him some treatment if you can," Simpson said. "I will be on the lookout for any trouble and if I find that guy on the video, I will make sure he doesn't get away."

"What about Gates?" Brad said. "I want him just as bad as you want that one guy."

"Listen, I will make sure that I find him and if I do, I will let you know," Simpson responded. He knew that Brad wanted to get his hands on his turncoat partner. Was he actually a turncoat, though? So many questions were on everyone's minds at that point.

"Just go, he needs help fast," Simpson said.

Ross helped Payne get up and offered him his shoulder. Tonya offered to do the honors, but Ross insisted that he would help him get to the medical facility while she walked with everyone else.

The quintet emerged from the alleyway. Ana checked her phone to see where the nearest hospital was. They were in the middle of Downtown Palm Tree City, so a hospital shouldn't be too far. If they were in the North Shore area, a hospital shouldn't be too far anyway.

The map on her phone said that it was only a couple of blocks away. Payne had been patched up via Tonya's assistance, but it wasn't going to do him any good. Lucky for all of them, they could walk to the hospital from where they were.

On the minus side, though, the streets were filled with the undead. It did not help that it was almost 7 pm, and when darkness falls, the virus starts to mutate in that the zombies being more aggressive and harder to kill. On top of that, their eyes also start to glow, making it easier for them to see where to find human flesh for them to eat.

Brad and Ana led the way, with Tonya directly behind them, as well as Ross and Payne in the very back. The streets were open for the most part, but then at an intersection, a large horde of zombies were seen coming towards them. Ana and Brad quickly reacted and drew their firearms. Ana still had her weapon that was a shotgun and an assault rifle taped together. She grabbed one of the grips not knowing which one. She put her right index finger right on the trigger while her left hand gripped the end of it. Brad drew his assault rifle ready to open fire.

The sky was getting darker and as they got closer, their eyes began to glow, whether it was red or green, it didn't matter. It was a definite sign that the virus had mutated and now the zombies were stronger than before.

As Ana stood there with her weapon drawn, she started to shake a bit. Brad turned his attention towards her and noticed that she was trembling a bit.

"Ana, what's wrong?" he said.

"It's just…" she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Listen, you've been doing a good job this whole day, you can't lose focus now," Brad said. "They are getting closer and if you fuck up right now, we will all be dead."

Ana was confused as to why she started feeling that way suddenly. The previous night, she went to go find the files on that girl Maria, and before that, she found the hotel manager at the hotel she did undercover work at. She remembered that she kept her cool throughout that night. It was not the time to reflect on how she was still a rookie, because for a rookie agent, she did a lot more throughout that entire time than any inexperienced agent would do in a week to a month.

She inhaled and then exhaled. Once she let out her breath, she pulled the trigger to let out a huge shot from the shotgun and a number of those zombies had fallen from the shell that hit them. The pellet had hit a couple of zombies in the chest. She shot a few others in the head area, causing their blood and brain matter to burst from where their heads used to be. The concrete had now become red asphalt.

Brad aimed his rifle towards the head of some of the zombies. One zombie got close and was ready to grab him. But he knew better, as he was not about to risk getting bit for the second time, which would have possibly added more to the virus in his body. The zombie extended its arms ready to grab him. He raised his rifle and poked the barrel right to its chest. The barrel was pressed right against it that when it moved, Brad moved backwards a tad. Just then, he squeezed the trigger and pumped some lead right into it. Bullets pierced right through the chest and blood squirted from front and back.

The body had dropped to the ground and he looked right at it.

_I've been bitten once. I won't get bit again and I sure as hell won't turn into one of you._ He thought.

Tonya went forth and clocked one zombie in the head with her lead pipe. After it dropped to the ground, the walking corpse squirmed a bit while on the ground. It was after dark, so the zombies were not as easy to take down. The zombie that Tonya took down had gotten back up and she tried to hit it in its head once again. She knocked it down once again. The corpse was now on the ground but she was not done. She swung the pipe downward right to the zombie's head not one, not twice, but three times. She did it some more to make sure it was completely dead.

But that wasn't a good move to do, because she looked up and noticed more zombies getting closer to her. They were so close that one grabbed her by the shoulders. The effects from the red drink had worn off by now, too, as the zombies were able to grab everyone now. She screamed as she got touched.

The shriek was loud that Ross noticed that she was in trouble.

"TONYA!" Ross yelled. He and Payne looked at the horde of zombies surrounding her. He knew that his wife was a strong woman, but in this kind of situation, none of her strengths mattered. She dropped her pipe, and she could not fight back against the zombies if she tried.

Ana and Brad noticed the horde had surrounded her. Ana looked up and saw one of the zombies raised its arms a certain and noticed a glow on the back of its neck. She blasted a few zombies, including that one. When that particular zombie fell down, she noticed a glowing wasp and then it dropped. She immediately smashed it with her foot.

Tonya looked up and noticed that the zombie that was so close to biting her had let her go. Then her eyes had widened at the sight of the zombies trembling a certain way. Heads exploded, several bodies collapsed, blood splattered onto her, and then finally, some larvae had popped out of the bodies of some them, except this time, they had a green glow to them.

Tonya was relieved of having been freed from the horde of zombies that were about to eat her. Ana got closer and looked at her to make sure that she wasn't bit. Tonya put her hand to make sure that there were no open wounds on her. She was more than lucky to have survived that.

There was only one more street block to pass. More zombies kept coming out. Ana and Brad blasted their way through them. Tonya picked up her lead pipe after that, but she looked around and saw a better weapon for her to use: a small chainsaw. What it was doing was anyone's guess, but it didn't matter. She remembered having used something like this when that photojournalist who covered the Willamette Incident carried Ross back to the security room of the mall.

Ana blasted so many zombies with the shotgun part of her weapon and then switched it to the assault rifle. It had worked like a charm for her. Brad continued to fire away at any zombies that came their way.

One would think that it wouldn't take long to walk two city blocks to get somewhere, but clearly they haven't been in a situation like this. A notification had popped up on Ana's phone where it said "You have arrived."

Slowly walking towards into that street, right before her very eyes was a hospital and for some reason, a tractor and a fire truck were parked in the middle of the street. No time was to be lost; it was time to help the injured agent. Ross had carried him all the way from the alley that they all hid at.

The two agents plowed through the undead as they all fell to their demise from all the gunfire. Tonya slashed through some zombies with her small chainsaw. She beheaded a few and saw the heads ascend into the air with drops of blood dripping as the heads fell to the ground. She dismembered some in the torso. One zombie had half of its body cut in half. Several organs such as the intestines were seen hanging out one half and more organs hung out of the other half. She slashed a zombie hard right through its chest. She moved it a bit to get it out of its body and was shocked to see the lungs start to come out. She may have seen some bloody injuries, but this was new to her. With so much organs and blood all over the place, it was enough for her, as well as Ana to want to vomit at the sight of it.

Ana and Brad had cleared the horde that was blocking the entrance of the hospital. Many of the decayed corpses all laid there in a big pile, but what mattered was that they were no longer an obstacle to get inside.

Ana put down her hybrid gun. She was relieved from having taken all of them out. She walked slowly from the exhaustion. Brad walked alongside to her right, while Ross, Tonya, and Payne were behind them.

Brad sensed something else walking behind them. He knew that the couple and the injured agent were directly behind them, but something else was walking behind them. He turned his attention to his left and quickly said, "Ana, behind you!"

Right when he said that, two hands grabbed her by the shoulders. She jumped right when she was grabbed, enough that she dropped her weapon. Brad quickly drew his pistol, but Ana had wrapped her right arm around the zombie's neck and put her hand right on the other side of its neck. She jumped from her feet and landed on her butt. The zombie bent over and dropped its knees from the maneuver that she did. Right when she landed to the ground, she beheaded the zombie in the process.

Brad stood there and looked at her with confusion and amazement.

"What was that?" he said.

"It's called a Stunner," she said. "I learned it from watching wrestling when I was younger."

"I see, I thought that move looked a little familiar," Brad said. "Anyway, let's go inside now."

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

After Ana and the crew left, Simpson and his team had managed to get the gang members off their backs. Some of the Caribbean Boyz tried to step up to them, but the moment each of them brandished their guns in their presence. A few of them stood down from this. However, a couple of them weren't as competent, as they believed they could take all of them out despite being outnumbered.

The moment one of them tried to fire at them, Simpson quickly shot him a few times in the chest and watched as he fell backwards to the ground. The other gang member watched as his comrade had fallen. However, the fallen gang member was still breathing and he hadn't learned anything as he once again tried to shoot Simpson but was met with another bullet to the chest, this time doing him in. The other gang member, who was the same one who made those inappropriate comments to Ana, however, wised up and walked away, realizing that it was not worth it to try to fighting against federal agents, especially when it was only him who was there.

Simpson, being the leader of this operation, led the way for everyone. It was clearer than before as everyone had fallen back and regrouped elsewhere, or so it seemed at that point.

The fact that that part of the streets being clear seemed awfully suspicious at that moment. While it was true that more of the streets had become infested with zombies, it seemed that where they were was where a lot of living human beings were. Not survivors, per se, though Simpson had come across moments when he and the others had cleared zombies from places where a survivor was trapped, whether the person stood on top of a car, or on top of any platform, or even inside a building. Each time that happened, the survivor went on their merry way, despite any initial suggestions that they follow them to keep safe.

What was a sign about the clear streets was that some vehicles had blocked off some roads to keep zombies from trying to come forth towards anyone. Simpson had noticed some bodies of not only zombies that managed to cross through, but also some people who just happened to be there at the wrong place at the wrong time. These people didn't mess around, that's for sure. They wanted no witnesses and if someone was where they weren't wanted, then the person would have to meet their unfortunate untimely death right there.

They walked a few city blocks East of where Ana and her team went. They went the opposite direction, as Simpson could feel that the person who was heading this operation, this guy who worked for Phenotrans was somewhere nearby. He also felt that Mendoza was close by, too. Why else would some of his soldiers be joining on in the fun, loosely speaking? He was aware that the Caribbean Boyz had ties to Mendoza's cartel, as they were allies, but why were they involved? What did they have to gain from all of this? Why were they even there when Andy, Tammy, and Ana went to talk to the ZDC agents before? What was the turncoat agent's connection to all of this? He didn't know all the details as Ana didn't share with him about how it all went down. Even she didn't know much, despite having suspicions about him earlier on.

It was now time to get to the bottom of this. There was no denying that he wanted to get out of the city and get everyone who was at the mansion out of there.

It was not long, until he came across another open area, but from a distance, he saw some light coming from headlights and streetlights. He saw some people, not just men, but also some women standing guard with guns in their hands. What was also noticeable was a man walking back and forth with his left hand to his ear. One could only assume that he was talking on the phone.

Over in that area, Simpson's intuition was right, as it was Walters on the phone. What he did was tell the team to follow him down another alleyway so that to head towards Walters's direction. If they were out in the open, they were as good as dead. Being that Ana got it on video when Simon had pushed Brad into the group of zombies, he realized that he needed some evidence and he needed to get some of this on video.

The team slowly sneaked through the alley and managed to find a dumpster to hide behind. Simpson got out his phone and put it to the camera and on video to record. He knew it was that same guy as he had the sunglasses on and the scar on his face to prove it. The question was why was he wearing sunglasses at night? Who knows?

"Marian, you got it all wrong. Our guy didn't get the job done at first, but he has something planned," Walters said.

He stood there while the person he was talking to was speaking.

"Simon didn't fuck anything up, some people just managed to fuck up his plans, but he will finish his duty. He took out that ZDC agent as far as I know. Now we just need to find the girl. What other girl is there? I am talking about that Number 40 girl. Hey, when you managed to confiscate that laptop after forcing that Keyes woman to work for us, you found that list and wanted us to find that girl so that she could do what she was supposed to do. Plus, we have to go to our other lab in the city to try to harvest some of the other queens before we try to spread it into other parts of this state."

Walters had stopped pacing as he listened to the person talk.

"Look, Marian. We made a deal with that guy to infect this city to break his dad out of prison. He should be here soon. In fact, I am waiting for him to come right now. He said that he wants us to infect Miami because he wanted to take out some other competition and that we will manage to break his father out of prison and get him a nice jet to get the fuck out of here."

Simpson managed to get every word he said, despite being a little far from where Walters was.

"The last thing we need is for anybody to get in our way, but it seems that someone had taken the thumb drive that contains some extra info that we need. We get the girl, we infect her and take her to Miami and then we eliminate any ZDC agents or any other feds, or even other survivors, including that backstabbing scientist Logan. For all we know, the military may bomb this whole fucking place. Nobody will think we had anything to do with any of this shit. Remember last time? Half of Ray Sullivan was found dangling on a plane when the skyhook was caught. Then came when that motocross guy with the infected little girl and that washed up reporter came into our inner sanctum and tried to confront us? Yeah, I still can't believe that Commander Singh was killed by those two losers."

One of the other agents, Martin, looked up to make sure no one had spotted any of them. So far, it's been going well.

"Well, does Susan, excuse me, Ms. Ingot know about any of this? Last time I checked, she went to make business deal somewhere, whether it was on the west in a place called East Mission. Somewhere around there, anyway, I don't know the details. Well, I'll keep you posted. Despite some fuckups, the plan has been working. We just need to deal with some of our little problems. I'll talk to you soon."

Just then, Walters hung up the phone. Then his phone rang, except this time it was another caller.

"Hello?" he said. "Well, hello, Mr. Mendoza…"

Just then, Simpson's eyes widened. It removed any doubt that Mendoza was close by. While he wanted to bring down Walters and Phenotrans for this entire outbreak, Mendoza had a big part in it and he was looking at multiple sentences because of it. Then he remembered that Paul, the man who first witnessed the shady dealings at the swamp and that he had some of that information. It was time to expose them.

He still had the camera right on them. As he was recording, Walters had made a mention on where to meet Mendoza and his men.

It wasn't long until Walters had gotten off the phone with presumably Mendoza or someone connected to him. After he got off, Simpson noticed Gates, the crooked ZDC agent walking up to Walters and said something to him. It was quiet that he couldn't hear, but soon after, he walked away and was on his way elsewhere.

He stopped recording the footage and sent Ana a text message. It wasn't the time to call her as she was in the middle of something.

* * *

**BACK AT THE HOSPITAL.**

Ana, Brad, and the others found that the undead had managed its way to get inside the hospital. While a lot of them were found in the lobby, it was assumed there were less of them in the upper floors. They had struggled to find the blood bank. If it were any other day, it would have been easier to just ask any staff member where to find it. This wasn't one of those days, however.

When they got to an upper floor, their assumptions were only half right and half wrong. There may have been fewer zombies upstairs. What was clear was that some of the zombies were patients and staff members.

"Man, I guess a lot of these people came here to get treated, only for them to turn," Ana said.

"I could have been one of these people if it wasn't for you," Brad said. "I know I said it before, but thank you for saving me."

"No problem, Brad," Ana said. "We will get that son of a bitch who almost had you killed."

"I will give Simon a piece of my mind if it's the last thing that I do." There was no doubt that Brad wanted to get him. It now started to come together for him. He would ditch his team so that he could try talking to any gangsters or Phenotrans operatives. Then again, that's only his theory. It was possible that he had other plans up his sleeve.

Meanwhile, Tonya and Ross were looking all over the hospital's database to find where the blood bank was. She also had to find an area where she could try patching Payne up better and to put blood in his system.

"Excuse me, sir," Tonya said. "What's your blood type?"

"It is…A…B," Payne slowly responded.

There was not much time left for him. He was still patched up as Tonya used the right materials for it. The main concern now was the blood. The blood bank was located on the floor below, where there was a storage area for some necessities. The problem was that it was crawling with the undead. There was also the Urgent Care area.

"Listen, Brad and I will protect you guys from the zombies," Ana said.

All five people made a break for the nearest elevator and went back downstairs. They were all look everywhere for Urgent Care, until they saw a sign on a double door.

More zombies came in through the automatic door at the entrance.

"Shit, more of them," Ana said. "You guys go on ahead. We'll take care of them."

Ana and Brad drew their weapons and fired away as the other three people made their way through the hallway to find an emergency room. They both aimed for their heads, as it was likely that they wouldn't survive headshots, because other shots wouldn't have been as effective in other areas, especially because zombies were stronger at night.

Ana continued to fire with her hybrid weapon, and then she ran out of rounds on both guns.

"Fuck!" she yelled. She then remembered that she had her pistol with her and had multiple clips on her.

Brad had extra magazines for his rifle, as well as for his pistols, so he had little to worry about.

Ana fired a single round into the last zombie that was standing into the head. The bullet went straight to the forehead and out the other end with a drop of blood squirting out on both sides.

"That should be all of them," Brad said. "Let's go see if they need our help."

Ana and Brad walked away from all of the carnage and went inside through the double door to find the emergency room. Brad looked around and saw only Ross and Payne in that room.

"Hey, where's your wife?" Brad said.

"She went to go look for the blood," Ross said. "I told her to wait, but she said that she would go find it."

Loud screams were heard nearby from another emergency room. Brad and Ana looked out to their left and saw a living human male running for his life.

"Excuse me, sir, what's wrong?" Ana quickly asked the frantic male. "Are there zombies in here?"

"No, it wasn't a zombie, some doctor was cutting out the organs of people," he said as he was shaking. "He has my girlfriend right now. She was knocked out and was ready to cut her open!"

"What is your name?" Brad said.

"My name is Luke," the man said. "My girlfriend's in trouble right now."

Ross looked up and realized that Tonya went into that direction. It was possible that the crazed doctor had gotten her, too.

"I need to go after him," Ross said.

"No! Don't do it!" Brad said.

"He could've gotten Tonya, I need to see for myself," Ross said.

Ross remembered what led to him suffering that gunshot years prior, when a crazed and depraved mall cop tried to kidnap Tonya. When they escaped, the mall cop shot him. He was heroic in his actions, just as she was trying to patch him up.

"No, we'll look for her," Ana said. "Come on, Brad!"

Ross reluctantly agreed to allow them to do this. It was possible that she didn't get caught by the doctor, but who knows? There was no way to know.

The two professional agents were on their way to look for Tonya and to see where that surgeon was. Luke stayed with Ross and Payne. There was no time to lose in this situation. It had only taken a few steps until Ana and Brad came across an open door to an emergency room. Ana did a double take and then took a few steps backwards to see if it was the right one.

She looked through the door and saw a few people tied up and a girl on the bench, but she hadn't been operated on yet.

"Hey, Brad, I'm going to check this out. Go look for Tonya."

"You got it," he said.

Ana walked into that particular emergency room and saw the poor woman squirming on the table. The woman was a pretty brunette who looked younger than her. She wore a button down shirt, but was open at that moment, as well as her bra was unhooked on the front, assuming that someone was about to perform surgery on her. Then saw what appeared to be the doctor in surgical scrubs and putting a respirator that was connected to a gas tank and put it close to the girl's mouth.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ana said.

The doctor, who was wearing a surgical cap and also a surgical mask, turned around saw her walk in.

"Ah yes, another patient, what can I help you with?" the doctor said.

"I don't need help, I'm here to help out these poor innocent people," Ana said.

"You are not a doctor, I know what I am doing here," he said. "People have been infected; I am just trying to find anything in them that could tell me otherwise."

Ana looked around the room and noticed jars of organs that he likely had taken out of living people. She then noticed some streaks of blood on the floor. It didn't seem to her that this guy was doing his job, or at least correctly.

"You know, you could be a zombie, too," the doctor said, as he picked up a surgical scalpel with one hand and a syringe on the other. "Why don't I look at you?"

Just then Ana looked at a fire emergency kit outside the door in the hallway. Bingo. She thought.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: DR. WILLIAM STEVENS**

Dr. Stevens had rushed towards Ana, who quickly exited the room and smashed the fire kit with the butt of her pistol. She reached her hand out to grab it, only to fall face first into the ground. She turned around and noticed that Dr. Stevens had released her foot. She didn't just trip and fall; she fell because someone tripped her. She turned her body around and slid backwards and turned to her right and touched the wall with one hand and then the other as her ascended to stand up.

The mad doctor got up from his kneeling position and stood up, with the other "patients" watching this happen, including Luke's girlfriend. Ana picked up the fire axe and then clocked him in the gut with it resulting in a loud scream from him.

Luke sat there with Payne and Ross. They didn't want to know what was going on. For all they know, it could have been a "patient" getting surgery, though not the kind that they would have wanted.

Dr. Stevens held up the syringe and slowly pressed the plunger as liquid started emitting from the bevel. Ana didn't even want to know what it contained, but for all she knew, it could incapacitate her so that he could hold her hostage and she would be in line for the next operation.

_Think fast, Ana._ She thought, and she delivered a hard roundhouse kick to the doctor's left hand and saw the syringe fly right from his hand and landed right inside the operation room.

He wasn't empty-handed, however, as he got out the scalpel and held it in such a way that he was ready to cut her. He rushed right towards her and tackled her towards the wall. So hard, that she ached a little from what was left of the pain she endured the night before. She saw the sharp blade coming towards her face.

"Come on now, this won't hurt a bit," Stevens said. "I'm a doctor, I'm here to help."

The blade closed in right on her face. The crazy doctor was going to cut her face open and maybe other parts of her upper body.

She took a deep breath and kneed him right in the nuts. Another scream in pain came out of his mouth as he bent over and she then kicked him right in the face.

Meanwhile, Brad searched for Tonya and then found the storage area where she went. It turned out that she had come out with the right type of blood to give to the injured man.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were," Brad said. "Your husband is worried sick about you. We thought that you got caught up somewhere."

"No, I just followed the way to the storage area," she said. "I also found something for you."

She extended her left arm to present to him a box of Zombrex.

"I figured you needed it, because I saw you take some earlier," Tonya said.

"I may need a lot more than this, but this will do for now," he said. "I don't need my next dosage until tomorrow evening, anyway. I may find more by then."

"Yeah, well, no time to talk now," Tonya said. "We have to give that man some blood now."

"Follow me," Brad said.

Tonya followed Brad to get back to the emergency room. They were on a mission, a mission that involved saving a man's life. They hoped he hadn't lost more blood by now.

They ran, but were careful as that bottle of blood was made of glass. Along the way, they heard violent noises, as Ana was still fighting the doctor. She picked up a metal tray and dropped all of the tools from it and then clocked him right in the face with it. She looked up and made contact with Brad and Tonya. She signaled to them to go help Payne. She needed no one else's help as far as she was concerned.

Stevens was out, so it was a good time to free Luke's girlfriend from the bench. She walked up to it and untied her.

"Thank you so much!" she yelled.

"You're welcome. Your boyfriend went and asked for our help," Ana said.

"Luke! Where is he?" the girl yelled.

"He is a few doors down," Ana said. "What's your name?"

"My name is Kristen," she said. "We thought it was safe in here, but then this happened."

"Yeah, this guy was crazy, let's go. Your boyfriend is worried sick."

Kristen hooked up her bra and buttoned up her shirt once she got up and got off the table. Ana walked with Kristen behind her, but suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard. It was a little dark in there, as the only light that was on was above the operating table. It turned out that Stevens was not out completely. He had the surgical saw in his hand and it was rolling as he was ready to cut someone open.

Ana was unarmed. She knew that if she were to try to pick up something, it was a window for Stevens to try to cut her right there.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he said with an evil smile on his face. He had since taken the mask off.

His focus was directly on Ana, as he went right for her and grabbed her and pushed her to the ground and got the saw right close to her to try to cut her. She looked to her side and saw the syringe and picked it up and pierced the needle right into his neck. She pushed the plunger down so that the liquid inside could get into his system. He released her, but he was not completely out as he buzzed the saw once again and ready to attack, but then felt hard pierced right through the left side of his neck. He looked to his left and noticed the scalpel and blood dripping from it. Kristen took that blade and punctured it into his neck. Ana looked towards the girl and said "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said as she put her hand out to help Ana get up.

They turned around and saw Stevens wobbling a bit, buzzing the saw once again. Blood continued to leak from his neck. He tripped backwards and fell right towards the wall and his back against it. His right arm went right towards his neck with the saw in hand, still buzzing as it sliced against his neck. The green scrubs started getting red marks on them with the blood sprinkling out of his neck from the saw cutting right through it.

Kristen shook as she saw what was happening before her very eyes that she turned around and vomited. Ana, on the other hand, kept her cool despite how gruesome that sight was.

It only took a couple of minutes until they got out of there, and they walked out of that room to find the room where the others were.

"Kristen!" Luke yelled.

"Luke!" Kristen yelled. They ran towards each other and hugged.

"Why did you run away?" Kristen said.

"I had to find help and I was lucky that I did," Luke said. "I was no match for him.'

"Well, this girl helped me," Kristen said. "Listen, that doesn't matter. At least you went to find some help for me."

Ana approached everyone else. Payne looked like he was doing better than before, especially with the help of Tonya and someone whom she had not seen before.

"Excuse me, but who is this?" Ana said.

"Well…" Tonya said.

Brad interrupted, "On our way back, we saw this other doctor all by himself in a closet across from this room, he said that he was hiding from that other doctor that you got into it with.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Austin," said the doctor, who looked middle-aged and had a full head of hair. "I checked on this man. He seems to be doing a lot better than before."

"Listen, we need to get out of here, I know a safe place," Ana said. "Let me call someone."

She got out her cellphone and noticed a text message from Simpson.

_I got some information that I will show you later._

She instead used her transceiver and called Paulson on his frequency.

"Hey, Torres, what's up?" Paulson said.

"Hey, do you know if that one bus driver can come and bring some people back? I have a lot of people here," she said.

"You know, I think your friends and some other people went with that bus driver somewhere," Paulson said. "I will let him know. Where are you?"

"I am at the Downtown Hospital," she said.

"I will let him know," he said.

Realizing that the lobby was going to be crawling with the undead, Ana had to be prepared. She went back into the other room and picked up a couple of metal trays and a defibrillator. For some reason, Dr. Stevens had duct tape lying around. She taped the trays to that tool and then set the voltage up high.

She went back to the other room. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

**DOWNTOWN**

**8:45 PM**

It wasn't long until George took Andy, Tammy, Gary, and Rhonda, along with the three lovely bodyguards out of Little Santiago and into Downtown. George had been in the bus company for a long time and was quite a fast driver, even though a transit bus wasn't the swiftest vehicle out there.

The bus had arrived to its destination in no time. Everyone was trying to clean house from all the zombies, especially Ana with her new toy. A zombie had come up to her but put both ends of her little shocker on the sides of the zombie's head and shocked it to death.

Andy and Tammy had gotten off the bus to greet their friend.

"Man, this has been one hell of a night," Ana said.

"You should have seen what we went through," Tammy said. "But look at the bus now."

Ana barely noticed that the bus had the plow right at the front. "Damn, how did that work out?"

"Well, it took us getting through some crazy nutjob, that's for sure," Andy said.

"He tried to burn me," Tammy said.

"And I thought I went through a nutjob," Ana said.

Andy looked around the area and noticed that some of the streets were a little clearer. He didn't know much about it, but on the other side, there were zombies. Cora, Nina, and Summer all got off the bus to handle some of them were their hands and their feet. It didn't seem like they needed to use weapons in this situation. Gary and Rhonda joined in on the action a bit. Andy walked off to check on how there were zombies coming from that side, but not the other.

Out of nowhere, a zombie had grabbed him by the shoulders right out of nowhere. Tammy saw and she ran towards him, which drew attention from Rhonda and Gary in the process, but Andy quickly reacted by wrapping his arms around it and delivering an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. It wasn't enough to it keep it down, so Andy grabbed it by the legs and hoisted it up and powerbombed it to the ground.

"Whoa," Rhonda said. Gary looked on with intrigue at what just happened as well.

Tammy smiled at the amazement of what her boyfriend just did. Gary walked up to Andy and made eye contact with him.

"That was a hell of a powerbomb, kid, and a hell of a suplex," Gary said. "You ever thought about becoming a wrestler? I mean you may be small, but you could do well for your size."

"Hmmmm, I never thought about it, though I have liked wrestling since I was a kid," Andy said. "I'll think about it."

Andy took a deep breath at what just happened. Tammy looked right at him and said, "Andy, how did you know when to react? You could have easily been bit."

"When you've been around these types of things long enough, you figure out ways to survive," he said. "Anyway, I'll be back, I'm about to scope out the area."

From a distance, a familiar face had walked towards a corner, just only a building down from the hospital. He was wearing a ZDC jacket and then chucked a can that was lying around and it hit Andy.

_What the hell was that?_ He thought. He was unable to see who the person was because it was dark, but he figured which direction it came from as the person had run through a dark alley. Andy ran as fast as he could. It was still dark, the only thing he could make out were those three letters on the jacket. Who could it be, though?

He ran and ran, and then came to a complete stop when he saw a group of men who looked to be of Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent. Some of the shirts had each of those flags on them, as did their bandanas. Out of the darkness came that same bald guy who hassled Andy just a little while ago.

"Well well, I wasn't going to stop at nothing," said the gang member. "I need to get my ass some money. You are my ticket."

Andy turned around and he noticed all of the gang members who surrounded him got closer.

_Oh, fuck me._ He thought.

"However, I am getting all of that money," the gang member said. "Killing you would be too easy. I just need to take you to my boss and you WILL finally meet the man who wanted you dead."

Andy delivered a hard haymaker punch to one of them which knocked him down, but suddenly all of the gang members started swinging punches and melee weapons. One person whacked him in the back of the head with the butt of a pistol and another shocked him with a taser. A van started backing into the alley. The door had opened and someone tossed a bag to put it over Andy's head in case he were to wake up at any point. Two men picked his unconscious body up and then threw him to the back of the van and the doors closed. Everyone started to depart right then.

Back at the hospital area, George had told everyone to aboard the bus because they were ready to get back to the safe house. Tammy looked around to look for Andy.

"Andy, where are you?" she said. She continued to look in various directions.

"ANDY!" she yelled with her hands around her mouth for her voice to carry.

All of the survivors had boarded the bus, but Tammy continued to look around for him. Ana looked at her and then got off.

"Tammy, we have to go now," Ana said.

"We can't leave without Andy," Tammy said.

"Listen, the zombies are getting aggressive and we need to get to safety now," Ana said.

"We can't leave without him!" she yelled.

George stepped out of the driver's seat and peaked out from the door.

"Excuse me, ladies, but we have to go now."

Ana put one hand on Tammy's shoulder and the other on her face, "Listen, Andy will find his way back, I promise you. He'll be back. He knows how to handle himself."

Tammy took a deep breath and her eyes shifted to the ground. "Okay, Andy's strong and he can handle himself. He'll call me when he's on his way."

The two ladies got on the bus. George closed the door at a moment's notice. The number of zombies was increasing and some of them banged on the sides of the bus.

"Okay, people, this is going to be a bumpy ride, so grab onto something," he said. He put it in drive and floored the gas and they were on their way.

Tammy looked behind her out a window to see if her boyfriend would surface or not. She turned back around and then looked down. Ana turned her attention towards her with a look of concern.

**September 28th**

**9:17 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**38:42:57**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some references with Ross and Tonya were of their mission in Dead Rising 1, as well as their chapter in Tales of the Survivors of Willamette.
> 
> Also, when Walters was speaking to Marian, he made a reference to Susan Ingot, another character from the Dead Rising films, particularly "Endgame." Susan is the CEO, while Marian is the director.
> 
> The psycho in this chapter was a reference to late professional wrestler, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.


	20. Spilling Guts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: Though I have done a lot of violent sequences, this will have a sequence that may be dark and disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

When someone threw a can right at Andy, he ran towards that person to see who it was who did it. The only thing he made out were the letters ZDC on the jacket. It couldn't have been Brad Park, because he was seen with Ana and everyone else. For all knew, someone could have taken the jacket off of an agent somehow and some way. After all, there were other ZDC agents scoping other areas of the city.

What the young blonde man didn't expect was a gang of ruffians waiting for him in a dark alley, the same gang of ruffians who ambushed him, his girlfriend, and his old friend the previous day. It all happened when they were searching for those two ZDC agents, whom had shown up early that day. However, he didn't have anybody with him when he took off. It was a given that if he tried to attack, then everyone would jump him, and boy did they jump him when it happened. It wasn't the first time it happened, but at that moment, he didn't have the aid of three bodyguards to save him. He was all alone, even though any kind of support was close by. But how would, could, or should they have known?

He was knocked out, but also had a bag over his head in case if he were to regain consciousness. He was taken away, but to where is the real question.

Suddenly, he started to reflect on everything that had happened from the time he met Tammy until now.

_It was September 27th, 2011. He stood on top of some slots in the Palisades Mall and zombies had surrounded all of them. He was wielding a shotgun. Nobody knew what he was about to do. He was either going to shoot himself with the weapon or he was going to jump off of the slots and land on the zombies so that they could eat him alive. He was ready to end it all, especially after having separated from his half-brother when they attended the Terror Is Reality event a few days prior. He regretted not going back to him because he ran for his life and then other things had happened along the way, like getting mugged by looters._

_Then this man came up to him. A man with spiked blonde hair and a stoic look about him. He even climbed on top of the slots to talk him out of committing suicide. He and this man had a long talk, before he could convince him to think otherwise about killing himself. It wasn't much, but it helped. It then led to a fateful moment as this same man had led Andy into the Atlantica Casino to find a beautiful young redhead woman dressed as a mermaid, and she, too, had zombies surrounding her because she was sitting on a clam in the casino._

_The man had talked to this girl about how she can't walk, for various reasons. She had to be carried. The man was about to do it, but Andy decided that he would do it. This young woman could have been eaten easily. He may have seen a lot of people die and/or turn into one of the undead, but she was an easy target for them. He needed a way to get his mind off of those suicidal tendencies, so he handed that man the shotgun and carried her back to the Fortune City Emergency Shelter._

_It was fate as they had started dating after all of what happened in Fortune City. He never forgot when he came to pick her up for their first date. He had moved somewhere close to where she lived and she had moved back with her family because of what happened in Fortune City, or at least the casino plaza. He was so nervous, but they became inseparable after that. After those two had met, he realized that he wanted to keep going, despite everything that happened._

_But what does the future hold? He already proposed to her and now was getting visions of their wedding day, as well as a pregnant Tammy. But it hasn't been written yet. So many things that could happen, all he needs to do is get there…_

Andy's eyes had popped open from all of that. He looked around and had no idea where he was. He was in an empty, dimly-lit room with a table and some chairs. He looked around from right to left, up to down. His hands were right above him as they were strapped to safety straps to the ceiling. His felt a major a chill in his body as he was a little scared about where he was and that he was tied up, and because he also had no clothes on, except for his underwear and socks.

_Oh man, I have to make it. I just HAVE TO make it._ He thought, as he had proposed to the love of his life hours before. Then came the future bit in his dream. He wanted those things to happen, but in this state he was in, will he get there?

He stood there and looked around and heard some music coming from the other room. From the sounds of things, it sounded like rap music. He took a deep breath and looked straight ahead, as the door had opened and the music sounded much clearer than before as two guys walked in there, one with a button-down shirt that had a Dominican flag print all over it and had a bandana on with the same print. The other had a T-shirt that said "Soy Cubano, Got a Problem?" on it.

The Dominican guy looked up towards Andy, who remained a bit calm in that situation, or tried to, at least. With him strapped like that and nearly naked, how could he remain calm?

The man with the T-shirt walked towards the door and opened it. "Hey, guys, that white boy woke up now," he said.

Suddenly, another chill flowed through Andy's veins. He just remembered that he was jumped by those gang members earlier. He didn't know how long he was out and he couldn't look at his watch or phone, because his hands were strapped above him and his phone was in the pocket of his pants, which he wasn't wearing. The question on his mind what they were about to do to him.

The bald guy who tried to take him out earlier that night, as well as in the morning had walked into the room. Right behind him was another familiar face, who was a muscular man with a Caesar haircut and a beard. He was also wearing a black muscle shirt and had tattoos on his arms. A couple of notable tattoos he had on him were of the Puerto Rican flag on his right shoulder and the Cuban flag on his left shoulder.

"We got you now, motherfucker," said the muscular man. "You got lucky earlier. You even killed some of my boys with those knife gloves, whatever the fuck that shit was. Those two bitches got lucky, too, especially that redheaded one who hit me with that fucking bat."

Andy looked closer and realized that the man who was talking to him was the gang's shot caller, Ricardo Colon, who led the ambush on him, Tammy, and Ana.

"You sent your boys out to try to kill me, huh?" Andy said. "It was self-defense. Why did it matter? Why do you want me dead so badly?"

A smile grew on Ricardo's face and then his body started to shake a bit when he put his hand to his mouth as he started laughing at that comment.

"You really think it was me who called on the hit?" he said, he then reached for his pockets and got out a lighter and a cigarette. "I ain't had shit to do with it." He looked towards the bald man next to him and then lit the cigarette. "That was all Jorge's idea, as he wanted to be one of us so badly. He figured that this was the way to get in our little clique and now that we have you, he is now one of us. Don't get me wrong, I wanted revenge, but I didn't need the money. Sometimes you just got to find a way to prove your worth on the streets." He looked towards Jorge. "Isn't that right?" Jorge smirked a bit from that comment.

He added, "But he was so determined, because he also knew that he would be paid well. He may have fucked up earlier, but he had a lot of heart and balls to get in with us."

Andy hawked his mouth and then spit right towards Jorge. His saliva landed right onto Jorge's forehead. "That's all it was, huh? Just an initiation for you?"

"You got balls," Ricardo said. "I'll give you that, especially since you killed a few of my men yesterday. But you weren't so lucky when my men got you earlier, or else you wouldn't have ended up here."

"What do you want from me?" Andy said.

"I wanted to clear out everything before the big man gets here," Ricardo said. "You see, he promised us refuge from this shithole, especially after all the zombies. He paid us well, too, but he is taking so long to get here. Once he's here, it's adios, amigo. We're just doing his bidding. It's nothing personal, even though you and those two bitches killed some of our men yesterday. We were told to eliminate any living person, or else they would snitch on all of us."

It finally dawned on him what their role in the outbreak was. One would think that those guys would have gone to get safety on their own, but it wasn't the case. Andy didn't know much about this gang, if anything, really. It was explained why they targeted him the previous day when he went to meet with his woman and the two men she had with her.

"Then came this big contract on you and your bitch," Ricardo said. "Being that the big man paid a large sum of money with this one company, we had to work together to eliminate some of the problem. I mean I thought that some living people were easy to take out, but you? You're different. We got you now, and now it's easier for all of us."

_Is this "big man" the Gatekeeper like people have called him?_ Andy thought.

"I have one question and one question only," Andy said and took a deep breath. "Who is this 'big man' that you're talking about?"

"None of your goddamn business, white boy," Ricardo said. "Even if I told you, you won't live long to see him."

"Is this 'big man' the Gatekeeper?" Andy asked. "If so, what the fuck does he want with me?"

Ricardo, Jorge, and the other two guys in the room started laughing at that statement. Clearly the "big man" in question was not the one who called on the hit. It was someone else, but who? It was a question that was burning in his mind all day long.

"No, it's not him, but now that you mention it," Ricardo said. "The Gatekeeper is here."

Everything on Andy's mind went full stop at that very moment. Anything related to getting out of the city, as well as the future that he wants with Tammy, everything just went to a screeching halt, as the man who had called on this big contract out on him was nearby.

He took a deep breath and let it out. "WHO…IS….HE?!"

Ricardo turned towards his men with a smirk on his face and then walked towards the door and signaled "Come on in" right outside the door. The room was still dimly light as anybody was usually seen under the light, even though he was able to make out some of them standing in the darker surface.

In walked through the door was a man who was wearing a jacket and was a bit tall, or at least taller than him. He looked and tried to look a little closer as there was a familiar look to him. He walked towards the light which made things a lot clearer than before, as this man had light brown hair and was of Caucasian descent.

Andy looked a lot closer and the word that came out of his mouth was, "Simon?"

"Hello, Andy," Simon said. "How are you doing?" He said it in such a smug and condescending tone. "Not so good now, huh?"

"You were the one who called the hit on me?" Andy said.

"You got that right, it was me," he said. "It was me all along. It's amazing how you have made it this far. You, Tammy, that Mexican bitch, everyone. How do you do it?" He asked that question with a sarcastic tone. "Don't even answer that. It's a rhetorical question. But I have to hand it to you, though. I didn't think you or Tammy had it in you to take out three highly-skilled assassins, let alone last in a zombie outbreak."

"Being in a zombie outbreak is nothing new for me," Andy said.

Simon looked away while having his eyes shifted towards Andy. "Right, right, but like I told you, you should have left it to the professionals. I had to take out my partner because he was getting in the way of my shit."

His partner? Andy thought, but then he remembered that he saw Brad earlier, but Simon clearly knew nothing about that.

"You know, you fucked up the original plan that I had yesterday morning," Simon said. "My partner was originally supposed to be killed by these guys as I left him to make a call. You see, I set it up that we would get there early so I can meet with the Caribbean Boyz and have them try to eliminate any living being nearby, including Brad Park. Then I saw that you and Tammy survived, which made me want to…"

"Call the hit on me, huh?" Andy said.

"You're good, I'll give you that," Simon said. "But you don't know everything."

"Huh? Like what?" Andy said.

"You and Tammy were supposed to die at the start of the outbreak," Simon said. "You two would have been dead if it hadn't been for that fed bitch who saved both of you. I had heard that you and Tammy were going on a vacation here, so I had convinced some friends of mine to start the outbreak around this time. You see, the plan all along was to start the outbreak in this city, because Carlos Mendoza, the Cuban drug lord, wanted to break his father out of jail and get out of the country. He had been on the run for a while, but he came to Phenotrans to see about starting the outbreak in this city. But the question was WHEN they should start it. That was where I came in."

Everything had started coming together for Andy now. He now knew who the "big man" was and what the reason for the outbreak was. He may have been in the presence of Ana and Simpson when they talked to that scientist earlier, but he didn't hear what was said, actually.

"I found out about your vacation plans recently by looking up your precious girlfriend on social media and I told them when the perfect time to start it was," Simon said. "But because some of the plan failed, that was when I figured that you should be taken out."

"So that's what this was about, huh? It was all about Tammy? You've been stalking her this whole time?!" Andy said.

"Hey, she broke my heart," Simon said. "It doesn't help that she ended up with a loser like you."

"She didn't break shit, you fucking asshole!" Andy said. "She told me about the shit you put her through. Now you tell me that you have been stalking her this entire time and wanted to take out the competition. You fucking degenerate. That's what this was all about the whole time."

"You think that this was ALL about some girl? I did it for the money and the lives of others," Simon said. "Besides, maybe she would see that I really have changed."

"She'll never want you again and you know it!" Andy said. "You were working for Phenotrans and you thought that it was the perfect plan to start the outbreak for your own petty and selfish reasons."

Simon quickly turned around and grabbed Andy by the jaw. "Hey, fuck you! You don't know shit. You actually think that this was all about your precious Tammy, the love of your life, the girl of your dreams?" The condescension and sarcasm in his voice was beyond unbearable at that point. "This was mainly about saving lives."

"What the hell does getting a drug lord out of the country have to do with saving lives, huh?" Andy said. "Hell, what the fuck does killing me have to do with saving lives? Shit, what the fuck does starting a big outbreak for the virus to spread have to do with saving lives?"

"Life has its little bonuses," Simon smugly replied.

Andy stood there while his hands were tied to the straps to the ceiling with a big scowl on his face.

"Oh, and by the way, if you're wondering why I told you everything," Simon said. "It's because I know you're not going to live long enough to tell anybody. But I do have one question: What about happened with that flash drive that was stolen?"

"Flash drive? What are you talking about?" Andy said.

Simon looked towards Jorge to pick up something. He reached for a baseball bat. Simon signaled to him, but what kind of signal?

Jorge banged the bat towards the ground and picked it up like he was ready to swing and then clocked Andy right towards bare stomach with it.

"OHHHHHHHH!" Andy screamed and coughed after he was hit by the bat right in the gut.

"Did I stutter, Andy?" Simon said. "Just answer the question."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

Jorge got the bat and clocked him in his upper back rather hard to another agonizing scream from Andy.

"You know, this is only a warm-up…Andy," Simon said in a rather condescending tone, especially with that pause before he addressed the name. "I just need to know what happened to the drive so that we can continue the plan."

"I swear I don't know shit about the fucking flash drive!" he yelled.

"You know, your upper back may be hurting now, but just imagine if he hit you lower," Simon said. "That would be even worse for you. You probably wouldn't walk again. All it takes is a simple response to get you out of this."

Ricardo took the cigarette from his mouth and got closer to Andy. He took the cigarette and slowly guided towards his chest and pressed the cherry against it to put it out. A sizzling sound started as he was smashing the cigarette right to his chest. Andy gasped a bit with his lips opening slightly and slowing breathing from the pain being inflicted on him from the burn. Once the cigarette was put out, Ricardo backed it up and there was a burn mark on Andy's bare chest with smoke sizzling.

"Just remember, we're just getting started," Simon said. He then went towards Andy's pants that were lying there. After they stripped him of his clothes, they just left them nearby for some reason. He reached for one of the pockets, until he felt a couple of things that seemed interesting to him.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Simon said and Andy looked to his left and Simon coming up with something very valuable in his hand. He raised it up and flashed it to Andy's face, which was the engagement ring that he had with him. Andy's eyes got big from that sight.

"Hey, you put that back!" Andy said.

"Why? Why should I? I think I'm about to make this more interesting," Simon said. "Just wait and see."

* * *

**MENDOZA MANSION**

**12:57 AM**

It had been more than three hours and Tammy sat around all alone in the entertainment room with her phone right by her. It was after midnight, almost one in the morning on September 29th and she could not sleep at all. In fact, ever since she got back to the safe house with everyone, all she could think about was what could have happened to Andy.

It could be argued that when he took off while she was sleeping that he could have told her, but he didn't want to wake her. However, he did check on her when he came back at some point. Then came the point when she took off on her own while he was sleeping, but she left him a message to let him know where she was. She would have heard from him by that point, but she hasn't.

She tried calling him a few times, but he didn't answer. She also tried texting him a few times, but he didn't respond. What was the deal?

I understand that he would have to find somewhere to get back at me. She thought. But it's not like him to not contact me like this. It's been a few hours already. I just hope he's okay.

It was obvious that she was worried about him. Just to wonder what he was going through at that moment. Could he have gotten caught up in a zombie horde? Could he have been killed by anybody trying to collect the money from that hit? So many ideas, but she didn't even want to grasp them.

She sat there all alone and looked at the floor with a look of sadness on her face. She didn't cry, but she was down about her boyfriend being missing. Suddenly, a knock was heard on the wall. Tammy jumped a bit and then turned around saw Ana standing there.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Ana said.

"Oh, hey, Ana," Tammy said. "I'm okay. I just miss him right now."

"Listen, Tammy, there's something that I want to tell you," she said. She walked closer to her. "I know you felt a little jealous earlier when I hugged Andy a certain way, and also how I sometimes looked at him. I just want you know that while I still care about him, I know how much he means to you, and I also know how much you mean to him. I never really got over him, but I see that you deserve him a lot more than I do."

"Thanks, Ana, that really means a lot," Tammy said. "I'm just really concerned right now. He would have gotten back to me by now. I just don't understand. Where could he be?"

* * *

Back at the lair, wherever he was, Andy still had his hands strapped to the ceiling. He had a minor bruise on his stomach from having been hit by the baseball bat-wielding gang member once again.

"You know, I think we need to spice things up a bit," Simon said. "Hey, Jorge, tell Andy what he's won today!"

Jorge put down the bat and with his back turned, and from the looks of things, he looked like he was adjusting his hands. He turned around and it was obvious why he was adjusting hands, or so it looked, as he put on some brass knuckles around his fingers on both hands. He approached Andy's hanging body and delivered a right handed fist to his face and then followed it with his left hand as blood started to spill from Andy's mouth. But Jorge wasn't done, as he punched him higher in the face, leaving a bruise around the left side of his eyes.

"Hey, Andy," Simon said, who held a cellphone in his hand. "I see that you have some missed calls and some new text messages."

Oh no, Tammy. He thought. He realized that his girlfriend tried to reach him after he was abducted.

"You know, I did say that I wanted to make this more interesting," said Simon. "Let's see how Tammy would feel about all of this."

Andy knew that he can't do anything to stop him, especially with him being trapped. Simon had the phone in his hand and found an app that used streaming video. He went to it and started to stream what was going on.

"We're just now getting to the good stuff," Simon said.

The other two thugs brought in some more things to use, including a couple of baseball bats. One had barbed wire wrapped around it. The other had nails sticking out of it.

_Oh no, this can't be happening._ Andy thought.

Back at the safe house, Tammy was sitting around and then got a message from Andy, or so it would seem. She immediately opened it up to see what it was and it had a link to something, only to find that it was a video. Not just any video, though. It was live. The video feed showed Andy in his underwear tied up. Tammy looked at it and gasped as her eyes widened from the horrific sight. The camera closed in on Andy's face, as it was bruised and bloodied a bit. He was also sweating from the tension that he was feeling and tears had also run down his face from the emotional tension.

"Oh my god," Tammy said to herself under her breath.

A couple of guys had the bats in their hands. One guy whacked Andy in the stomach with the barbed wire bat, and the other did the same with the spiked bat in the stomach and then clocked him the back. Andy winced from being hit a couple of times. It didn't help that the camera closed in on his face during the process and then noticed that he was bleeding on his stomach and some blood was running down his stomach all the way down to his legs.

Tammy couldn't help but watch, but winced and turned away when he was attacked as tears started to come down her eyes from the sickening sight and quickly turned away from the beating he was taking. She had gotten up and wasted zero time in coming to one person who may know where to track her boyfriend down.

"Ana, I need your help," Tammy said, who looked like she had been crying.

She turned around after hearing her name and saw that Tammy was in an emotional mess. "What's wrong?"

Tammy turned the phone in the opposite direction of her hand and slowly extended her arm to show Ana the gruesome images on the screen. At that point, one of the guys had picked up a couple of clips. However, the clips had cords and that could only mean one thing. He looked to the camera and hit them together, which emitted a flash from them and did an evil laugh. But he shook his head and got out a cattle prod, while the other guy got another stun gun. They both got to Andy's battered body on opposite sides; they shocked him, if that didn't make matters worse already. Andy's body shook from the shock.

Ana's eyes got bigger and her jaw dropped. "What's going on here? Where is this coming from?"

"This is coming from his phone," Tammy said. "I don't know where he is, but I know that he'll die if I don't find him."

It was then that Ana realized that there was one way to find him. She got out her phone and looked for that tracker app to look for his phone signal. There was clearly a signal if they were streaming the video and having his more-than-worried girlfriend watch it.

Time was not to be wasted, as it was only a matter of time until they do more to him. He will die if they do more to him. Unless…

"I have to go save him," Tammy said. "Give me the address now!"

On the screen of Ana's phone, an address popped up. It didn't take long for her to trace where the signal came from. Hell, it was even amazing that someone didn't just destroy the phone so that no one could find him.

"Thank you," Tammy said and then quickly walked away at the confusion of Ana.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ana said. "I have to help her."

"Hey," a voice said. Ana turned and around noticed three women who happened to have been standing by. One woman looked like she was mixed and had a black cowboy hat on and had a white woman and a Hispanic woman with her.

"If you need some help, count us in," Cora said.

"Why?" Ana said.

"We have saved her boyfriend before, and it wasn't just tonight," Cora said. "They owe us, but I feel that with her boyfriend being in trouble, it might deduct some of the favors that they owe us. I think I know what is wrong."

"Listen, this is going to be really dangerous," Ana said. "I know Andy, too. I need to help her, but this is a serious matter."

"Relax…, hey, what's your name?" Nina said.

"My name is Ana," she said.

"Well, we have been through dangerous situations like this before," Nina said.

"We know what we're doing," Summer said.

"Okay, you three can come along," Ana said.

Meanwhile, Tammy was looking for some weapons to use. She remembered that the shotgun axe that she used earlier was left in the bedroom. She could have tried to craft another one, but there was no time. The only she could do was reload the shells and she did. She found a metal baseball bat as well, as it was a harder material than wood. She was ready to inflict pain on those who were hurting her man.

She walked quickly out of the supply room and was walking towards the door. Everyone was looking right at her, like she was angry and was determined to go help the man she loved.

"Tammy, wait," a voice said. Tammy turned around and saw that it was Ana, who had the Guardian Angels trio with her.

"We're coming with you," Ana said.

"Listen, I'm doing this alone, I don't need anybody else," Tammy said.

"Those guys are dangerous," Ana said. "We'll help you."

Two men walked out, who were Marcus and Gregory. A lot of the other survivors, ranging from Holly and April to the nerds quartet and Eric Masters, looked at everyone and were all supportive of this. Somehow, they got the idea of what was going on. Marcus and Gregory stood along with Ana and the three bodyguards, as they were willing to help in the matter.

"Okay, all of you can help," Tammy said. "Let's get going. We don't have time."

Back at the lair, Andy was still hanging by the thread from the straps. He was breathing hard and coughed a little bit.

"Okay, guys, he has had enough," Simon said.

Andy took a deep breath in relief from that.

"…For now," Simon retorted. "Let's give him a little break."

The gang members walked out of the room while Simon stayed in the room with him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Andy said. "I don't know shit. You're talking to the wrong guy."

Right when the room was clear of the gangsters, Simon closed in towards Andy and said, "I know you don't know shit. I just wanted you to suffer."

A scowl had grown on Andy's face and then spit right at Simon from that comment. Rather than react angrily, Simon laughed in his face.

"You know, we're not done," Simon said. "We're just taking a break. After I'm done with you, I'm going to make sure that I take care of you-know-who."

The scowl then grew to a look of shock and worry on Andy's face.

He retorted, "You lay a finger on her, and I'll…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," Simon interrupted. "But that shit won't work here. You are going to die very soon and then I will go and handle your precious Tammy. I'll be back soon. I have more for you, and I WILL break you."

He then walked away while Andy looked in his direction. The moment he walked out the door and closed it, Andy took a few deep breaths.

_I'm going to live. I will make it. I WILL NOT DIE!_

_I will make it out of here. WE will make it out of here._

_WE WILL NOT DIE HERE!_

Those thoughts of positivity were rolling in his head. He just had to hope that he will be saved from this carnage. If only he wasn't already told that the guys were not done with him yet. How long until they torture him again?


	21. Race Against Time (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tammy, along with Ana, Brad, and the Guardian Angels race to save Andy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more torture. Reader discretion is advised.

**September 29th**

**1:31 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**34:28:20**

There was no time to be lost at that moment, as someone's life was at stake. A special someone, that is, as Tammy took the wheel to the van that she was driving. Her eyes were facing right in front of her, as the determination to find Andy was all she had then.

It was raining at that moment, with the humidity of southern Florida being a common thing.

On the front passenger seat, Ana looked at her like she was a bit crazy, but really, why wouldn't she be "a bit crazy"? She just saw her boyfriend get tortured live on camera. Why wouldn't she be worried about him? The question on everyone's minds was whether she will get him in time before anything else happened.

Ana had her phone in her hand with a GPS tracking system up. She had found the exact address where Andy was, as the signal came from another island off the mainland. They brought some support with them on their mission. Cora Russell, Nina Suhr, and Summer Chavez immediately volunteered, as they felt that while Andy owed them for some past favors, he happened to be in real trouble and that maybe those favors will be deducted. Or maybe they just have a soft spot for him, who knows?

The only other person who joined in on this was Brad, as he had dealt with a few of those thugs before. Now that he found out that they were working with Phenotrans, as they were allied with the Mendoza cartel, he wanted to help Ana, who wanted to help Tammy.

Other survivors, such as Tomomi, Deidre, Gary, Rhonda, etc. wanted to help, too, but the two professional agents declined their help. One of the reasons was because they didn't need all those numbers. Another reason was that it could be dangerous.

The three bodyguards sat in the back seat with Brad sitting in the very back by himself. The only thing that was on his mind was the betrayal of his partner, as he left him for dead among the undead. He also knew that Ana was green and also suspected that Tammy was in over her head. The three bodyguards were different as they knew how to fight and have been in a zombie outbreak before, as well as been on deadly missions before.

Tammy wanted to go at it alone, as she was willing to risk it all for her now fiancé. Hours prior, Andy popped the question, but they were going to get there if she could help it and she was intent on it. She didn't talk a lot while she drove, as she had only one thing on her mind and she was really focused on it.

The concern on Ana's face was as clear as day, even if it was dark outside in the after hours. The concern was for both of them. She was appalled by what Andy was going through. She even wondered who the person behind the camera was. The only person who she suspected was the person who called on the hit, but who was it? Neither she nor Tammy knew. There was only one way to find out.

She looked right at her and took a deep breath, "Tammy, are you okay?"

"Shut up! I'm fine, okay?" Tammy quickly responded. "Just don't talk to me. I'm already having a bad day."

"I just want to give some advice," Ana replied.

"I don't need your fucking advice, okay?!" Tammy yelled.

"Please, just listen to me, okay?" Ana said. "I know that you're worried about Andy, but you need to keep your head straight. We're facing something dangerous, and I don't want you to do anything stupid. I care about him, too, and I am also worried about him, but if you don't think straight, those guys might kill you, too. I'm trying to help you."

"You don't understand," Tammy said. "I would do anything for him; I would even die for him. I know he would do the same for me, but this wasn't how I pictured it."

The three ladies in the back seat didn't say anything, but the looks on their faces really said a lot. All three of them looked concerned, especially Summer, who had started to take back some of the jealousy she felt from earlier that night. She was attracted to Andy at one point, even though that was before they started dating, as well as came close to scoring with him.

"I know you would," Ana said. "But I am also sure that he wouldn't want you to get hurt either. Just keep calm. I have a feeling that he is fine."

Then something else hit her. "I think that whoever was filming him getting tortured was trying to get into your head."

Well it worked. Tammy thought and nodded her head and took a deep breath and wiped her eyes a bit while trying to maintain focus on the road. She tried to hold back tears. The main thing that was on her mind was her boyfriend's safety. In fact, it was the only thing that was on her mind, enough that she plowed through zombies left and right, even when some had hung on to the van. She was determined to save him. The question on her mind was who would do such a thing. She suspected it was the man who called the hit on him, but who was it?

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

Andy stood there in the torture room with his hands tied. He started to think about what he had gone through. There was no doubt that he felt a lot of pain, whether it was being hit by the baseball bats, especially the ones with nails and barbed wire. He felt some pain from that burn on his chest. It didn't help that he got shocked in the process. For all he knew, it was just about to get worse.

But one thing hit him. He was tortured, yes, but why didn't Simon join in on "the fun"? He was the one who called the contract out on him, so why were those guys doing his dirty work? He was right in front of him and was an easy target. It would have made sense if Simon tortured him as well.

_They may have been broken my bones a bit. They may have made me bleed. They even shocked me. I think I may have pissed or shit myself. But one thing that they did not do was break me. They'll have to kill me to break me and I'll damned if Simon gets his hands on Tammy. Also, because he caused all of this, I'm going to take his ass down._

He had noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. When he looked up above him he noticed that the strap had deteriorated a bit. It appeared that the straps that they tied him with weren't strong enough. So there may have been a chance that he could break free and make an escape.

As he stood there, footsteps were heard and some banter was heard from the other side of the door. He knew that round 2 was about to start, but on the inside, he had a plan of his own. He looked down and slouched a bit to give them a vibe that they had broken him.

The door opened. Ricardo, Jorge, the two other guys, and finally, Simon walked in through the door. Andy looked down to floor. Simon looked up right at him. From his perspective, Andy looked like a broken man, but unbeknownst to him, he was faking it.

"Well, well, Andy," Simon said. "I guess we finally broke you down. Not just physically, but also emotionally. And guess what? We still have more to do here."

Andy slowly raised his head to face the sadist dead in his eye. What wasn't expected, however, was that a smirk grew on Andy's face.

"What are you smiling at?" Simon asked.

"You know, being that you wanted me dead so badly," Andy said. "I am surprised that you didn't torture me. I mean, come on, you have to rely on others to do your dirty work, when I was right here the whole time for you to torture?"

A look of confusion rose on Simon's face. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that you couldn't just kill me yourself," Andy said. "Because you're too much of a…"

Simon rushed to his face. "You better watch what the fuck you say to me!"

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" Andy said. "And you call yourself a professional. By the way, how's your headache doing?"

"What headache?" Simon said. Andy then moved his head back and then butts it to right to Simon's face.

"Owwww!" Simon yelled. "You motherfucker!" He yelled and then raised his arm as he was ready to punch him. Andy quickly noticed that Simon's legs were spread apart, which opened a window to move his leg back to kick him right in the balls. Right when he did that, Simon yelled again from the pain of getting hit below the belt.

Ricardo, Jorge, and the two goons walked in and then punched Andy a few times while he was still strapped down. One of them even put on the brass knuckles to add a little extra pain to the attacks. Andy hung there with his arms to the ceiling and was their little punching bag. Simon had gotten up after that kick to the nuts. It was even crazy that the gang's shot-caller was involved in this, but because he had dealt with their prisoner, it was understandable.

"Out of my way, boys, he's mine," Simon said in an angry tone. He approached and then delivered a hard right to his bare stomach and delivered a left hook to his face. He delivered multiple punches to him. The more Andy moved, the weaker the strap got.

"Is that what you wanted?" Simon said. "I'll rip your fucking throat out!"

He picked up one of the baseball bats, but it was the bare one, unlike the other two, and then whacked him right in his left knee. Andy screamed loudly from the pain it caused. Another agonizing scream had filled the entire room when Andy was hit in the back with the same bat. Ricardo stood back and watched the beating take place with little emotion on his face. From behind his back, he got out a car lighter and then quickly pressed it Andy's chest.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" The loudness from the scream overshadowed the sizzling sound of seared skin. He continued to move and finally, it broke the strap and he then fell to the floor.

He lied there and looked up directly at the light, but then he was surrounded by the guys who were in there with him. The last person who walked up was Simon. The others joined in and started kicking and stomping on Andy while he was on the floor. Jorge kicked him in the stomach. Andy got his body up as he was on all fours. Ricardo delivered a swift toe kick to his face, leaving a bruise around his jaw and blood coming out of it, if he wasn't a bloodied and bruised mess already.

"You got some balls, Andy," Simon said. "You're tougher than I thought. I thought we broke you, but it looks like we are far from done."

"Fuck you," Andy said while lying on the ground and spit out some blood. "If you want me dead so badly, finish me off."

Simon then pulled out a pistol and pointed it right to Andy's face. Everyone else in the room was surprisingly shocked at this image. It was as if they didn't expect him to draw his gun.

"You know, this is too easy," Simon said. "I have an even better idea."

He holstered his gun and then picked up the clips that one of the other gangsters picked up before. It was obvious that those clips were jumper cables. Jorge went to the batteries and put them to 400 volts. Simon hit the clips together and caused a flash. The gangster with the Dominican flag getup pushed a chair, while the other guy just sat Andy on the chair and held him down as Simon slowly approached his nearly-naked and battered body and opened the clips and closed them right on his nipples. Andy's body shook from electric current entering his body. It was even worse than when he was shocked with the tasers from before.

BZZZZZT! That was the sound that was made from the shock that Andy had endured. Simon unclipped the jumpers from his chest and watched as he shook from the torture. The other gang members may have contributed to the torture as well, but they looked at Simon like he was crazy. It appeared that he was enjoying inflicting pain on him. And for what reason, too? There had to be more than met the eye. It couldn't just solely be that Andy was with his ex.

The guys were about ready to leave the room once more, but then something else happened.

"I'm…still….here, assholes," Andy said very slowly.

Simon, Ricardo, and Jorge turned around and noticed that he was still breathing.

"Man, this guy is tougher than we thought," Jorge said.

"You should have seen what he did yesterday," Ricardo said.

Simon didn't say anything and then walked closer to him. He looked him up and down. Confusion on his face was clear, as Andy shivered in the chair.

How are you still alive? Simon thought.

As physically broken as he was, Andy spit blood right into Simon's face. What did Simon do in response? He pushed the chair Andy was on backwards, causing him to fall. Simon looked at the broken young man's body and scowled at him.

"This isn't over yet," Simon said.

As soon as everybody left the room, Andy tried to get himself up, but the shock had paralyzed him a bit. Not so much that he can't move at all, but more that he had a hard time getting up. He knew that this won't last long, but if he didn't try to move now, it would probably lead to extra torture, and given the state he was in, it was likely that more torture would do him in.

He could move a little, as he slid himself off the chair, but he couldn't get up off the floor. He felt his heart beating. It had thumped quite a bit before, especially from the tension of the torture, as well as the shock he had just received.

Meanwhile, Simon was on the other side with Ricardo and everyone else. It was clear that they were answering to him, as he was the benefactor in all of this. After all, Mendoza was working with Phenotrans and Simon was an operative of that shady pharmaceutical company. The Caribbean Boyz were allies of the Mendoza Cartel. Sometimes they were used as hired guns to their bidding. But Simon was the one who called on the hit. Why else did those two Devil May Cry cosplayers try to off Andy, especially when the third member had to handle matters inside? Or even that crazy mechanic from before? It's like that old song said, for the love of money, people will steal from their own brother, for that lean, mean green.

"Hey, man," Jorge said. "Where's my paper? I brought him to you, now you got to pay me."

"Don't worry, you'll get your money," Simon said. "Though I am upset about one thing, I thought you said you broke his spirit."

"We did," Jorge said.

Simon slapped him in the face. "You broke nothing! Otherwise he wouldn't have talked shit like he did."

Simon was disappointed that the torture didn't work as well as he thought. While the first round was tense enough, he realized that they didn't break Andy the way they wanted to.

"You know, I think I have another idea," Simon said.

All the gang members looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hey, man, I think that guy has had enough," Ricardo said.

"What, are you going soft of me?" Simon said.

"First of all, I am mostly in charge of these guys, at least until Mendoza gets here," Ricardo said. "So you better watch your fucking mouth. Second, I'm just saying that guy has had enough off all this shit. He don't know shit about nothing. You broke him real good and I'm just sayin' he don't need no more pain."

"It's over when I say it's over," Simon said. "Besides, I am the one who is providing the money for bringing him to me."

Ricardo and Jorge looked at him with a bit of disdain and impatience. Jorge only brought Andy in for his initiation into the gang, as well as to get money. But really, he and the shot-caller, along with the other two gangsters, looked at Simon like he was sick and twisted.

* * *

Outside of the lair, which turned out to be an abandoned house, was a van. It only meant one thing.

The abandoned house was located on another island that looked like it had seen much better days. It was in an area where nobody even bats an eye, so if Andy would have been killed, nobody would even search the area for a body. The island was known as West Bay Island, and it looked like it was once a luxurious area to live in, like the island that was south from there where the safe house was. The house was big, like it was custom-built, but the upkeep may have been too much, or maybe the homeowner just abandoned it.

But that wasn't important. It appeared that someone didn't think everything through when Andy was being filmed getting tortured.

From the exterior, several cars blocked the gateway, likely because zombies would have found their way inside. However, being that it was so deserted, zombies were hardly a problem. They would only know someone was present if they sense human flesh was close by. Of course, that wasn't to say that zombies weren't around at all, as Tammy had mowed through some of them when she entered the area.

Once Tammy put it in park, she grabbed one of her weapons and quickly exited the vehicle. Ana looked at her like she had just gone off her rocker, as Tammy walked fast away from the van. Cora looked closely and saw her carry her weapon with a mixed look of concern and intrigue. The video really took a toll on her, as she wanted to do anything in her power to make sure Andy was okay.

"Oh my god, she really would do anything for him," Ana said.

Cora leaned forward with her face right beside Ana's, she added her input. "That's love right there."

Nina and Summer leaned in over the tops of the front seats and watched.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ana said. "We have to help her."

Ana noticed that Tammy left the metal bat behind. The four ladies and Brad all got out of the van.

Two gang members stood around and noticed the attractive redhead woman approaching them. One of them was ready to draw his gun, but Tammy quickly drew her shotgun axe.

"Don't even try!" She yelled. "Where is he?!"

"Who," said one of the guards.

"Don't play fucking dumb with me," Tammy quickly responded as she stood there with the shotgun barrel right to the man's face.

The gang member didn't want to cooperate as he reached for his pistol, but Tammy quickly thought ahead and turned her weapon around and gripped the barrel and swung the axe end towards the man's arm and sliced through it. A loud scream sounded as blood had dripped from the man's severed arm. That guy just wasn't smart.

She looked to the other guy and turned the weapon around and pointed the barrel to his face. "Tell me where he is or your brains will splatter all over the pavement."

"He is inside," the other guy said, who was wearing a button-down shirt with a lot of guns as the patterned print. "It won't do you any good."

"Watch me," Tammy said. She stormed right into the grounds and saw the big house right in front of her.

She walked right onto the grounds armed to the teeth ready to blast anybody who got in her way. It was dark and rainy outside, which made things slightly more difficult. Her man was inside, but where inside was the real question.

Right from above, Tammy was seen walking on the grounds through an upstairs window.

"Hey, man," said the Dominican gang member. "Looks like we got some company."

Simon looked towards the man by the window, with the others by his side.

"What the hell are you talking about? Nobody knows about this place," Simon said. He walked quickly towards the window and then out of eyes was a very familiar face to him. "What the fuck? How did she find us?"

His eyes shifted towards the upper left and through the gateway walked another familiar face. Ana was seen running towards the yard with the three bodyguards behind her.

That bitch, I should have known. He thought, though really, he didn't think it through that someone was able to trace the signal to find Andy. Then another familiar face was in his sights.

What the hell? He's alive? Shit! Simon was shocked to see that Brad had survived the zombie attack. If Ana hadn't been there when it happened, he wouldn't have been so lucky. Though Brad was infected, he had to make use of the time he had before he would turn. He was not going to let that happen, especially because he got more Zombrex from the hospital.

Angry at how someone came to save his hostage, he looked towards everyone.

"Well, what are you just standing there for? Go out there and kill them!" Simon said.

The other gang members had made their break to go and find other areas to try to defend their lair.

Tammy was outside as she looked around to find any entrance that wouldn't draw suspicion on her. She looked to her sides, but once her attention faced forward, the front door had opened and a thug drew an Uzi and pulled the trigger. With it being dark out, the bullets missed, but that opened up the chance for Tammy to aim her shotgun towards him. She squeezed the trigger which sent the man flying backwards as blood had splattered on the surrounding walls.

Once the corpse dropped outside the doorway, she immediately went inside the house. For an abandoned place, there were some lights on. Someone had probably used a generator for the electricity, but that didn't matter. The house was big. Andy could be anywhere.

Outside, the quintet had finally caught up and gotten to the grounds of the abandoned manor. Ana looked around to see which way she could go to get inside. Gunshots were heard from the inside.

_I hope she didn't get shot._ She thought to herself. She looked to her right and saw that it was clear. Brad and the Guardian Angels had followed her, only to find that some other gang members had gotten outside of the house. Surprisingly enough, they weren't armed with firearms.

Ana and Brad holstered their guns and put up their fists. Cora, Nina, and Summer all got into fighting stances, as they were ready to fight them. One gang member drew a knife. Another one had brass knuckles. So they were armed with other types of weapons. The knife-wielding gangster swung the blade towards Ana. She barely managed to dodge the attack as he was close to cutting her. But she had a trick up her sleeve, or actually from behind her jacket, as she swung a weapon that quickly drew towards the man's gut and then clocked him in the head. It turned out that she had the baseball bat with her.

Another thug tried to stab Brad, but he blocked the attack and twisted his arm and threw him to the ground. Cora quickly punched a thug in the gut and then in the face and then jumped up to do a spin kick to him. Summer elbowed a thug in the gut and then kneed him right to the face. Nina punched a thug in the face twice and then delivered a roundhouse kick, knocking him down. The three ladies sure knew to take care of themselves, even when dealing guys who were bigger than them.

Ana signaled to the three ladies and Brad that she was going inside to look for Tammy.

"Don't worry about us," Cora said. "We'll cover you out here."

Inside the house, Tammy opened some doors to check if there was any sign of Andy. She didn't want to say anything, because there could have been more thugs inside the house. She knew that if she made a sound, it will draw attention on herself. She managed to take down a few thugs who were in the house. She was now upstairs. She had checked multiple rooms. It was a big house, so there were plenty of possibilities.

As she snuck around, behind one of the walls was Jorge, who had a spiked bat in his hands. On the other side, Simon and Ricardo stood there. Simon slowly peaked around the corner and saw her and then quickly backed against the wall. Simon looked to Jorge and shifted his eyes towards the hallway where Tammy was. Jorge nodded his head. Ricardo ran his thumb across his neck while facing Jorge, signaling that he should kill her.

Tammy had her back turned as she slowly walked. She looked around as she slowly moved forward. The area felt empty, so she felt it was time to move a little faster. She reached the end of the hallway and a bald Puerto Rican man quickly got out from behind the wall and swung a spiked bat towards her. She jumped at the sight and fell backwards before he could hit her. He swung the bat downwards and she quickly rolled to her right, causing him to hit the floor.

"Well, I never thought I'd see you again," Jorge said. "Well, you came to the wrong place."

Tammy lied there and faced him. He held the spiked bat in his hands.

"It's too bad a pretty girl like you has to die like this," Jorge said.

She was not about to let this affect her. Andy's life was at stake and she knew that she would have to go through him to get to him.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: JORGE DIAZ**

She got to her feet and then picked up her shotgun axe and gripped the barrel. His back was turned towards her, so she swung the axe end towards his back, but then he turned around and dodged the attack. He then swung the spiked bat towards her back as the nails had punctured her back a little bit. She then dropped her weapon in the process.

She screamed from the pain that she had endured, except he didn't hit her that hard. Jorge then swung at her back once again. Tammy tried not to scream this time, even though the nails hurt. Jorge dropped the bat and then approached Tammy as she lied there face down with minor bloodstains coming out of the back of her jacket.

"You're looking for your boyfriend, huh?" Jorge said.

"Where is he?" Tammy said.

"You think that I will tell you?" Jorge snidely replied. "Besides, he ain't gonna make it. He's probably dead by now."

Jorge grabbed her and picked her up to her feet and then pushed her against the wall. She looked at him right in the eye.

"You're that same guy from earlier," she said. "You tried to take him in the morning and then at night."

"That's right, it was me," Jorge said. "Do you want a cookie?"

Jorge reached for his pocket and got a knife out.

"You know, you're about to join your boyfriend very soon."

Tammy didn't want to believe that Andy could be dead at that very moment. She suspected that he was playing head games with her.

He looked at her and then ran his fingers through her hair and down her face, much to her discomfort. He held the knife close to her neck, too. What else could she do at that point?

_Think fast, Tammy._ With Jorge standing so close to her, she kneed him right in the nuts causing him drop his knife. His head was so close to her that she moved her head back and then butted against it hard. He moved backwards a bit, leaving her a window to move out of his sights. She quickly headed towards her shotgun axe to pick it up.

She turned around with her weapon drawn and pointed it at him.

"Tell me where he is!" she yelled.

Jorge laughed and then ran forward and tackled her while she had the shotgun in her hands. Once he tackled her, the gun went off making a few holes in the ceiling. The shot was so loud that Ana, who was downstairs, heard it. She ran to find where the shot came from.

Tammy had dropped the weapon once again. Jorge was now on top of her, and then reached for another pocket to get out a taser and then shocked her on the right side of her torso. He threw the stun gun to the side and then got out his knife once again and was ready to stab her. She looked scared right then, but lucky for her, the taser wasn't far away as she picked it up from her left and then shocked him right on his side before he could stab her. He fell off of her, which caused her to move to find anything that she could use. In situations like this, anything can be a weapon. She found a few chairs set up, as it appeared that was where some of the gang members were hanging out.

Jorge struggled to get up. As he barely managed to make it to his feet, Tammy swung a chair right to his head. He fell down, but he wasn't knocked out.

"I'm going to ask you for the last time," Tammy said. "WHERE IS HE?!"

Jorge slowly crawled on the ground barely conscious. He was able to acknowledge Tammy's plea, and given the state he was in, he had no choice but to crack.

"H-he's…in," Jorge said slowly and pointed towards a door that was cracked open a tad. "There." His head then fell to the floor. Was he dead or was he unconscious? Tammy didn't care. She just went forth into the room Jorge pointed to.

She opened the door and saw Andy lying on the floor. The light was still on and she quickly went towards him as he lied there. She knelt right before him and then pushed his body right onto his back. She breathed a couple of times and then tears ran down both of her eyes. She looked at his nearly-naked body and saw that he had wounds on his stomach and was red on his face and other parts of his body, like his knee and his back.

"Oh my god, what did they do to you?" Tammy said as she was slowly starting to break down. "Why did they do this to you?"

She started crying as she knelt right next to Andy's body right there. She then picked up his body and wrapped her arms around him as she cried into his shoulder.

* * *

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Ana walked around trying to find a staircase to find where the gunshot came from. As she walked, she heard someone say, "Hey, Ana."

Ana jumped at that and then turned around and saw that it was Brad.

"Oh, Brad, you scared me," Ana said. "Hey, where are those three girls?"

"They're outside standing guard for anything else," Brad said. "They certainly know how to take care of themselves. The leader with the hat even told me to go inside and help you."

"I'm just looking for Tammy," Ana said. "I think she's upstairs. We have to find her."

"Not so fast, bitches," a male voice said nearby.

"Yeah, you ain't goin' nowhere," said another male voice.

Ana and Brad turned around and saw a man with a T-shirt that said "Soy Cubano, got a problem?" on it. The other, a man wearing a bandana of the Dominican flag and his button-down shirt had a print of the same flag.

"I remember you," said the Dominican guy. "You squeezed my nuts yesterday. If you really wanted some, you should have just asked. 50 Cal can give you some of that lovin'."

Ana rolled her eyes at that remark.

"My boy Fidel right here had that other bitch with you yesterday," 50 Cal said. "However, I would like to give you some lovin', but our boss told us to take you both out."

50 Cal and Fidel drew a couple of pistols, but then Ana and Brad quickly drew their pistols.

"Look, we're just looking for my friends," Ana said. "We're not here for you. Let's not do this."

"Oh, I think one of our boys had taken care of that white bitch," 50 Cal said. "You two are next."

"Look, we don't want to deal with you two," Brad said. "Just walk away and let us look for my partner's friends."

Fidel squinted and winced a bit, "No, I don't think so."

Fidel and 50 Cal had pointed their guns at the two agents and were about to shoot them, but were then shot themselves by Ana and Brad. They didn't want to comply with their requests, but for the two federal agents, it was kill or be killed.

Both men lied on the ground in pools of their own blood.

"Man, what did we get ourselves into?" Ana said.

"I don't know, but for these guys to go after your friend, this seems really personal or deep," Brad said.

"This is getting out of hand," Ana said. "We need to find Tammy right now. Come on."

They went up the stairs to look for her.

Back upstairs, Tammy was still with Andy and held him against her. She had stopped crying, but the tears were still running down her face.

Outside of the room, Jorge had regained consciousness while lying on the floor and saw Tammy in the room sitting down with her back to him. He looked around and saw a pistol lying around. He got up and went to pick up the weapon and cocked it.

He walked towards the door to the torture room and raised the gun and pointed it towards her without her knowledge.

But just then, the right side of his head was pierced with a bullet and then fell to the ground. Tammy looked up and saw that Ana and Brad arrived just at the right time before Jorge could shoot her.

Ana and Tammy looked at each other. Tammy signaled to her to get out of there and that she needed to be alone right now. Ana told Brad that they should leave them alone. They got out of the room and Ana stood close to the wall and looked down and put her right hand to her eyes.

"Are you okay," Brad asked.

"No, I'm not," Ana's voice cracked when she said that.

"Listen, I'm sorry about your friend," Brad said.

"Thank you," Ana said as she started to get emotional.

In the room, Tammy continued to hold Andy in her arms.

"I came here for you, only to see that I was too late," Tammy said.

"When I said that you were my angel, I wasn't lying," a voice said into Tammy's ear.

Tammy's eyes opened wide and backed away from and looked right to Andy's face, whose eyes were open right then.

"Oh my god, you're alive!" Tammy was more than happy to see that Andy was alive. Ana and Brad peaked through the door and were relieved at what they just saw. Ana took a deep breath and cracked a smile a bit.

She then looked all over him.

"Who did this to you?" she asked.

"It…was…Simon," he said slowly.

Tammy had a look of disgust mixed with a lack of surprise in this. She should have known that it was him.

"Wait, did you say Simon?" Ana said as she walked in. "He did this to you?"

"Simon did this?" Brad said.

"Yeah, he did," Andy said. "Why are looking at me like that?"

Brad added, "Simon left me to die earlier. I found out that he was working with Phenotrans."

"Listen, we'll talk more about this when we get back," Ana said. "We need to get you patched up."

Tammy got to her feet, but Andy struggled to get to his feet. He tried to get up but felt pain in his knee as well as his back. Ana saw a bag lying in the room and then saw his clothes and phone lying around. She went to pick up his things and put them in the bag. Tammy helped Andy get to his feet.

"Just wrap your arm around my neck, okay? I'm here for you," Tammy said.

Tammy offered him her shoulder so that she could help him get out of there. All four people got out of the room. From a distance, three women stood there.

"Hey, you guys, we gotta get outta here now," Cora said.

"Why, what's going on?" Ana said. "Are more of those guys coming?"

"Yes, but that's not all," Nina said.

"I think some zombies are on their way, too," Summer said.

Cora and the other two looked towards Andy.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Cora said.

"I'll tell you later," Andy said.

"All of us will protect you," Cora said. "You can count on us."

All seven people managed to get out of the abandoned house. Ana told Tammy and Andy to wait by the gateway so that she could get the van back and they could get in.

From a distance, inside a dark car were a Caucasian man and a Hispanic man. The men were Simon and Ricardo, respectively. Both men stared at the couple standing there to wait for the cavalry. However, Simon looked directly at them deep in thought.

I know his weakness. I think I have an even better plan. He'll see what I am going to do. Just then, an evil smirk rose on Simon's face.

"Hey, man, let's get the fuck out of here," Ricardo said. "We have to meet with your boss, anyway."

Ana pulled up and stopped with everyone in tow. Summer opened the door and the couple got into the far back seat. Once they sat down, Ana hit the gas and they were on their way back to base.

Tammy had Andy lean his head against her shoulder. She held him in her arms once again. He fell asleep not long after.

"It's okay, baby. I'm here for you and you'll be okay soon. We just have to get you some help."

She kissed him on his forehead, while Summer looked at them. She remembered the attraction she felt for him in the past, but what she just witnessed was real love that those two had. The other two bodyguards looked at them and Tammy noticed them looking.

"You really love him, don't you?" Summer said.

"With every inch of my heart," Tammy said.

"I see," Summer said. "I usually don't say this, but you're blessed."

"Thank you," Tammy said.

Zombies had made their way onto the island that they were on as Ana rammed through many of them. It was going to be quite a drive to get back to base, but she needed to give Andy some of the medical attention that he needed. She remembered that she had rescued that doctor at the hospital, as well as Tonya, who was an emergency medical technician and nurse. He will definitely need some kind of treatment, but the question was how long until he could walk right again? There had to be a way for him to function.

It was only a matter of time until they got back to base. The rain had stopped. Everyone got out of the van but one of the bodyguards opened the door and Tammy helped Andy get out of there. Summer offered her shoulder to him as well. She still felt a bit of that attraction from before, but she also knew what those two had. Ana had opened the door so that everyone could get in.

Surprisingly enough, some people were still awake. Rhonda and Gary looked up when Tammy and Summer brought Andy, as did Deidre, Gregory, Eric, even the group of girls that Andy had rescued a couple of nights ago. Everyone looked on with so much shock and relief that he was okay. Agent Simpson walked up and saw the condition he was in.

"What happened here?" he said.

"It's a long story," Andy said. "We'll talk about this later. I just need to get some rest right now."

"Hold up," a female voice said.

Andy and Tammy turned around and saw Tonya and Ross.

"I think I should patch you up a bit," Tonya said. She then got out a first aid kit and started to put bandages on the wounded areas, like his back and his stomach.

"There's a doctor here, too," Tonya said.

"That's great, maybe I'll have him look at some stuff later," Andy said. "I just need to get some sleep."

"Come on, baby," Tammy said.

She helped him climb the stairs a bit so that they could go to the bedroom. Andy has had a rough night. Thankfully his angel came to save him.

**September 29th**

**2:32 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**33:27:42**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding references, the headbutt bit from Andy earlier was a reference to a less-than-well-known 2000 film called "Bait," which starred Jamie Foxx.
> 
> The part about "breaking spirits" was a reference to a classic Simpsons episode called "Kamp Krusty."
> 
> Regarding the names of the two thugs that Ana and Brad dealt with. 50 Cal was somewhat of a reference to rapper 40 Cal of the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). As for the other one, Fidel, well that's self-explanatory.
> 
> Also, why the area was supposed to be dilapidated and it was implied that it was in an abandoned mansion. It was actually a reference to GTA Vice City and also Vice City Stories. The city that I created (Well, some of the credit should be towards a good friend of mine, as he came up with the name) for this story is an expy of Miami, as well as other Florida beachside cities like Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Daytona, etc. but primarily Miami. Regarding the GTA reference, Prawn Island had abandoned mansions in Vice City, but in Vice City Stories, in that particular area, the houses looked inhabitable.


	22. Finding a Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place hours after the previous chapter.

**September 29th**

**8:57 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**27:02:51**

The sun rose all over the city on that Sunday morning, as Tammy woke up with Andy right next to her, who was asleep and was also patched up from the terror he had endured. It had dawned on her that this was the first time she got any sleep in a couple of days, at least since they had been in the city when the outbreak started.

This had been a hellish "vacation" for the couple, if it wasn't clear to them already. First the zombies, and then the price on Andy's head, and she had no clue if there was any chance that they would leave the city in one piece, let alone at all. It didn't help that she watched her own boyfriend get tortured on camera. Neither she nor Andy could wait to leave now, as well as everyone else. But there was still no indication what the military would do when they come.

After she and Andy left Fortune City two years prior, the casino resort complex was firebombed. The area had been evacuated by helicopters and taken to an airport outside of the resort. There was no sign of any living being in that area afterwards. It was possible that the military was planning on bombing the city, but from now until then, it also seemed that things were not done on the part of Phenotrans. She now knew that her ex was working for them and that he was the one who called on the hit. But there was a lot more to it than that.

A knock was heard on the door to the bedroom. Andy woke up and Tammy got up to walk towards the door.

"Who is it," she asked.

"It's Ana, I have the doctor here and I want him to look at Andy."

Tammy opened the door and saw Ana standing there with Dr. Austin, whom Ana had taken with her from the hospital. He was found by Brad and Tonya.

"Hi, may I help you?" Tammy said.

"Tammy, this is Dr. Austin," Ana said. "I asked him if he knew anything about injuries and how to treat him. I want him to look at Andy to see how he is doing."

"Come on in," Tammy said. Skepticism rolled in her mind at this point. There was no doubt that Andy was in bad shape from the torture. It even surprised her that he was still breathing at that very moment. Andy was pretty lucky, but he somehow sensed that it was more than luck. How he survived 400 volts to his system was anyone's guess, but he made it. Who knew what else Simon had in mind if there was a third round? He had endured enough punishment that any more would have killed him, no questions asked.

"Hello, Andy, is it?" Dr. Austin said. "I'm here to see what your condition is. May I ask what happened to you?"

"It's a long story and I don't want to talk about it," Andy said.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me, I just want to look at some parts of your body," the doctor said. "Your friend told me that you were in serious pain."

Tammy and Ana stood right by the wall. The doctor turned around and said, "Ladies, can you excuse us?"

The two ladies nodded their head and walked outside the door. Tammy was reluctant to leave, but she did it anyway. The only thing that was on her mind at that moment was Andy's condition.

"Tammy, is everything okay?" Ana initiated the conversation as she noticed that Tammy wouldn't look her in the eye. "You look like something is on your mind."

"How could I have not seen that it was Simon who wanted him dead," Tammy said. "I can't believe I didn't see it coming."

It was now clear to Ana on what was bothering her. Tammy already knew about Andy's history with her, and Ana knew how the couple had met. But what she didn't know was Tammy's history with Simon.

"I want to know something. What's the deal with you and Simon?"

Tammy was unwilling to share her history with him. It had only been a few days since she had met Ana, but much to the surprise of both ladies, they ended up getting along. Tammy saw that Ana was very accepting of her relationship with Andy, while Ana saw how much in love the two were. They had only known each other for such a short amount of time, but they developed an understanding. It was now time for her to share something that she clearly didn't want to share, but she was going to do it anyway.

She had filled her in on her history with that guy. From knowing him since they were young to when they dated and how he was charming at first but then developed into a total nightmare. She mentioned that he was possessive and abusive to her, as well as unfaithful at times. Not to mention hypocritical when she talked to other guys, even when they were on a platonic level. He even hurt her own brother because he had witnessed him with another girl. But even to her, this whole thing about taking part in a zombie outbreak was on a whole different level.

"It sounds like this guy was a psycho," Ana said.

"Saying that would be an understatement," Tammy said. "I know him too well. Remember when you saw me talking to him a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah, you were uncomfortable," Ana said.

"Well, it's bad that I had to deal with his shit back then," Tammy said. "I hadn't seen him since I was a junior in high school and when he got expelled his senior year. I can talk about other guys who I've dated who just wanted me for my body and looks, but they have nothing on Simon. What's sad about all of this is that his parents are nice people. I don't know where they went wrong with him."

"Yeah, well, I saw it happen when he pushed Brad into a horde of zombies," Ana said. "That's how I found out that he was working for Phenotrans. I had a feeling he was bad news, but I didn't think he would go so far as to leave someone to die or even torture someone."

Tammy looked away and shrugged. To her, it appeared that he had gotten worse as time went on. While he was a bully to some people, the fact that he would go so far as to kill someone showed that he really doesn't care about life at all. There was definitely a sign to her that maybe he knew that she and Andy were going on that trip.

"I really don't know what to say about this," Ana said.

"You don't need to say anything," Tammy said. "I did everything I could to get away from him, but somehow he managed to find me."

Ana stood there in silence, but not for long.

"Just remember that I am here if you want to talk about it some more," Ana said. "I have both of your backs on this. I would do anything for my friends, and I like to think of you as one, too."

"Thanks, Ana," Tammy said and then smiled at that.

After that, Ana walked away because she had to go handle some other matters.

Inside the room, Dr. Austin was looking at Andy and noticed the bruises and the wounds on his flesh. Though that woman Tonya had patched him up, it wasn't a definite sign that Andy would recover faster. He still had the injuries to his back and his knee to worry about. He even wondered how he was still alive from the shock treatment.

The doctor had rubbed Andy's left knee. Andy let out a big "OWWW!"

"Did that hurt?" Austin said.

"Yeah, it did," Andy said.

The bruise on the knee was rather noticeable. The doctor told him to turn his body around and noticed the bruises and wounds on his back, also. Though Andy was rather lucky to be alive, the injuries showed that he was in bad shape as well. His own girlfriend came for him, so in a lot of ways he felt that it was more than luck.

Andy didn't want to share what the causes for his injuries were. But could anybody blame him? It was a miracle that he survived the shock treatment. Even he wondered what more they would have done to him. And he thought that the psychopaths he encountered were brutal.

Dr. Austin said. "I have seen some bad injuries, but it looks like it would be a bit before you recover. Your knee appears to be dislocated for one thing. It also appears that you have a ruptured disk in your back."

"What? What do you mean?" Andy said.

"I mean you need to take it easy," Dr. Austin said. "I would put a brace on your knee, but with there being zombies out in the city, that would be a bit much for me to do. It would probably take some time before you recover. Knee injuries like this take a lot of time to heal."

"So in other words, I'm fucked," Andy said. "Well that's just great." The tone in his voice sounded very pessimistic.

The doctor just stood there in silence. He didn't know what else to add. Being the professional that he was, he wanted to help him some more, but he lacked the resources that were necessary to try to treat him. The hospital likely had more zombies swarming around there at that point. Andy wouldn't make it either. He couldn't move. The Caribbean Boyz and the Phenotrans mercenaries would likely gun him down. Not to mention that he would get eaten by a zombie or bitten and get infected with the virus.

"But I don't have a lot of time," Andy said. "I don't know if we will even get out of here."

It was true. If he had been home, or in any other part of the country, or world for that matter, he would likely be in a hospital bed and it would take some time for recovery. But he wasn't, he was somewhere that had the undead swarming out in the city and he had no idea what would happen in that time frame when the military was supposed to come. There was no time for him to recover, unless someone in a chopper would take him now, but that wasn't going to happen, at least not soon.

"I don't know what else to say," Dr. Austin said. "If I had any crutches or anything like that, I could provide them for you, but I can't. You're on your own for now."

"I don't believe this," Andy said.

"Listen, I'll come back to see how you're doing later," Austin said. "In the meantime, you need to relax a bit."

But in Andy's case, how could he relax? His health was more important than what he really wanted to do: Take down Simon for what he put him through. But in his current state, he couldn't do anything.

The doctor exited the room. When the door opened, he saw Tammy standing there.

"How is he doing?" Tammy said.

"He is in bad shape right now," the doctor said. "I told him that he needs to take it easy and that if I had anything for him to use, like a brace or crutches, I would give them to him. He looks badly hurt right now that it would take weeks for his knee to recover."

Once the doctor was done talking, Tammy quickly went to the door and went inside the room. The doctor then walked away after that. He didn't need to wonder why she was so quick to go in there.

Inside the bedroom, Tammy noticed Andy lying in bed with a look of disappointment on his face. He didn't even see her walk in because he had so much on his mind. He faced opposite of where the door was.

"Andy?" she said.

He jumped the moment he heard his name. He looked up and said, "Oh, Tammy. It's you."

"What's wrong?" she said.

"All kinds of shit," he said. "I can't walk right now because of my knee and back are all fucked up right now. The doctor said that it will take time for me to recover. The only thing I want right now is to take Simon down, after everything he put me through. Shit, after everything WE went through."

She then sat the bed with him. She looked directly at him, but he didn't reciprocate. He was in a bad mood for various reasons. But there was one thing she wanted to know.

"What exactly happened?" she said.

"You really want to know?" he said.

"Of course I do," Tammy said. "I know what you're feeling, but I know when you're not in a good mood. You shut people out when you're like this, but I am the only one here with you right now and I am all ears. You have to tell me what happened."

Andy sighed. Would he really want to talk about the torture he went through? It's often common that when someone is having a bad day that the person doesn't want to talk about what is bothering them. This was no exception. He knew that this relationship was built on trust, but he just wasn't in the mood to talk. The fact that he turned his attention way from her was proof of that.

"Come on, you got to tell me," Tammy said. "Don't be mean, okay? I know you're upset right now, but you have to tell me."

Andy didn't want to share it, but he had to. He had to let her know everything that happened, especially all of the things that Simon said.

"Last night, when I went to check out the area for stuff, someone had thrown something at me. I ran after him and then I ran into a trap. Those gang members ambushed me and knocked me out and then took me to that place so I could get tortured. I found out that Simon was the one who wanted me dead."

Tammy put her right hand to her mouth and then grabbed his hand. "Tell me what else happened."

"He then admitted to my face that he was the one behind the outbreak. Sure, I know Ana and Simpson are after Carlos Mendoza and I think that there is another guy who is involved. But Simon had their ear to set up the outbreak for this time. He even told me that he had been stalking you for a long time, as he knew that we were going to be in this city around this time. He was so sure that I was going to die from the torture that he admitted everything right to my face."

Dead silence broke for a few seconds.

"Wow," she said.

She didn't add anything else after that, as everything her boyfriend had said confirmed her suspicions about that guy. But when she learned that he had been stalking her, it really took a major turn.

"If you think that was bad, it gets worse," Andy said. "He also took your ring."

"Wait, he did what?!" Tammy said.

Andy knew that she heard him right, but he responded with exactly the same thing he told her. What he was going through was terrible, but things got worse when Simon took the ring. Tammy tried to tell him not worry about it.

"You don't understand," Andy said. "I worked my ass off to save up for that ring. That was a special gift for you, to show that I wanted to marry you and now it's gone."

Tammy saw why it was special. She told him that she will still marry him even if he doesn't get the ring back. It didn't change how Andy felt, however.

"There has to be a way for you to recover faster," Tammy said. "But I don't want to leave your side. I can't go out there alone, either."

Andy grabbed her arm. "Baby, what you did for me showed a lot of courage and bravery. You came for me and you brought me back. I thought that there was no way for you to find me. I thought I was dead until you came for me. Those guys would have killed me if you, Ana, and the others didn't come to save me. I know you have it in you to go out there and find something to help me recover."

"I can't do this alone," Tammy said.

"Yes, you can," Andy said. "I believe in you."

Though Tammy had been out there in the pits of danger, she was often with other people. She was usually with her man, and other times she was with Ana. She even had backup with her when she tried to go at it alone. Hell, she even considered going to get Andy alone and didn't want any help.

"Listen, don't worry about me," Andy said. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll call you if I need something."

Tammy took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll go find something to help you with. Maybe I'll find some painkillers or aspirin. I don't want to leave your side, but you're right. I came for you. I can do this."

"Yes, you can," Andy said. "That's my girl."

Tammy leaned over to kiss Andy on the lips. "I'll be back, sweetie. I promise."

"Be careful out there," Andy said.

"I will," Tammy went back to him and hugged him, and then exited the room soon after.

She was nervous. Each time she had been out there, Andy was by her side. When she told Andy to go back and get some sleep, she stayed with Ana. The only time she went to fly solo, or at least close to it, was when she took off while Andy was napping. Ana went to handle her own thing. Tammy had a couple of guys with her to give her a hand. So she wasn't actually flying solo per se. Not to mention that her boyfriend went to find her after he got up. He didn't want to risk seeing her get bit and becoming one of them. He hadn't forgotten about that nightmare, but he was in no condition to go out there. He had faith in her, but he was still scared for her, as he knew that she hadn't really gone out there on her own.

Tammy found the van that she drove. She went back inside and found the keys to it and then saw a broom lying around. Then something hit her. She went into the armory that was in the house. One thing that she noticed was a machete and then a roll of duct tape. She took the blade, the broom, and the tape to the room with the work bench and taped the machete right on the broomstick. After she had put together that shotgun and axe combo, it was time that she brought out her crafty side once more. Besides, she was ready to face the undead on her own. It was time.

She walked out of there with her weapon in hand while some people looked at her, whether it was Kent, the hotel manager, the two beach volleyball players, Deidre, some were just intrigued and shocked at what she was about to do. Even Gary and Rhonda noticed it, but didn't say anything to her. It was a wonder that none of them offered some support. With the way she carried herself, it didn't seem like she wanted any.

Either way, she went into the van and put the key into the ignition and started it up.

She hit the gas pedal and then took off. She had to find a way for Andy to recover faster. But what was there? Certain parts of his body were in pain. It would take a miracle for him to recover quickly from that kind of pain. There had to be a way, though.

* * *

**PALM TREE BEACH**

**9:31 AM**

She was back to where everything had started. This was the area where the outbreak started, or at least a portion of it. It became clear that the outbreak had spread as some people had affected other parts of the city. She realized that when she and Andy went to that comic con, as those Phenotrans mercenaries were there to infect the people at the event with the virus.

Then something else hit her. Being that two of those assassins wanted to get the bounty on Andy's head, it became clear to her how they knew that they would be there. After all, she saw that guy not long before the two took off at the time.

But she had to find something. She didn't expect Andy to make a fast recovery. That would take magic to do, but she had to try.

She got out of the van. She saw a store that was near the fortune telling place that she went to. The store was called Waltz-Greens. But there was one problem: the streets were crawling with zombies. That wasn't going to be a problem for her. She brought her weapon with her.

She stood before a horde of zombies. Several of them looked like they were dressed to go clubbing and others looked like they were in swimsuits. After all, they were all in the beach area, especially with there being nightclubs and such blocks away. She wouldn't be surprised if any of them used to be some people who were at the club where she and Andy were the first night they were there.

The zombies began to walk towards her, making these mumbling sounds and growling towards her with their arms extended ready to grab her. She instantly swung the weapon and the machete slashed through the torso of one zombie, cutting one half of its body off and then cut through the zombie that was next to it. She then raised the weapon and cut through another couple of zombies but this time slashed through one of them downward diagonally. She raised the weapon and swung towards another zombie's neck and cut through its neck from end to the other, beheading it in the process.

That wasn't all for her. After the remains of the zombies had fallen to the ground, more came at her. Worse yet, some came from behind, too. She turned around and the more she looked around, the more she was surrounded. She wished that she brought some support with her, but she had to rely on her instincts.

When she swung her weapon, she swung it so hard that she not only spun around and sliced all the zombies that surrounded her into two, with blood splattering and bodies being dismembered in the process. But she also inadvertently broke off the end of the broom when she hit a zombie. She thought that she had cleared the way of zombies, but she was wrong. A female zombie approached her. She looked like she was a beachgoer as she was wearing a bikini.

The zombie put her hands out, as she was close to her. The hands were so close, that she was distracted and didn't stop to look at which end of the weapon was close to the zombie. No time to look, as she pierced right through the zombie's bare stomach and through the back. She noticed how small the wound was when the broomstick punctured through the flesh and saw blood oozing out of the zombie's mouth. She looked and saw the machete behind her. She pulled the broomstick out and the zombie dropped to the ground. She saw that the broken end of the broom was sharp that she was able to pierce through the tissue. Now she had a fully formidable weapon.

With those zombies out of the way, the store was now in her sights. She had to look for something to at least help him ease the pain in his body. She went forth and headed for the drug store. She walked fast towards the entrance of the shop, until something grabbed her right foot. She looked down to the ground and saw the same bikini-clad zombie from before crawling on the ground and was ready to bite her. It was clear that stabbing her in the gut didn't do her any good. She took the broken end of the weapon and stabbed the zombie right into its head as blood and brains squirted out.

Just then, it was clear all around her, so she walked towards the door. Strangely enough, the door opened when she walked up to it. Then again, either this place was open 24 hours on any other day or the person who worked there last could not lock it up. Who even knows if there was anybody alive in the store?

She went straight for the medicine area. She looked around for any painkillers, aspirin, anything that could help ease pain. She took a few bottles of any sort of medicine that her boyfriend may need. All she was wanted to do was treat his pain. She knew that it wasn't going to help him try to move better as his bones were badly injured. The best thing she would suggest would be to stay at the safe house until it was time to leave, but even she didn't know when that will be.

Nonetheless, she took whatever she could find.

Once she was done taking the meds, she decided that it was time to go back to him. She picked up her weapon and headed to the automatic door, only to see that zombies found their way inside through that door.

_Oh shit, this is just great._ She thought. It was not going to stop her, however. She swung the weapon, dismembering and decapitating zombies that went her way. She even used the same strategy with the machete by just stabbing a zombie right through its torso, though closer to its chest this time. The blade went through its back and she quickly pulled it out, causing the zombie to drop its knees and then knocked over to lie face down on the tile floor.

The broken end of the stick was close to her left hand. Another zombie went her way and she didn't hesitate to jam the broken end right through its chest, like a person jamming a stake through a vampire's heart. Blood gushed right out of its chest and mouth with a dark red shade of blood. It was safe to say that zombie was now dead. Once she pulled it out, the zombie quickly dropped to the floor.

The automatic door opened and she quickly headed out of the store. She saw the van and tried to race towards it, only to feel something from behind grab her by the shoulders. Decayed hands, rotten skin, if it wasn't already obvious what grabbed her. She noticed through her right peripheral that the zombie that grabbed her closed in on her neck, so close that it was about to bite her. She moved her head closer to her left. She started to sweat and shake, as this was the first time she had been grabbed by a zombie and was close to being bitten. She breathed and tried with all of her might to try to push the zombie off her. She moved her shoulders backwards, which surprisingly caused the zombie to release her. She looked behind her and saw that it felt on its back. She quickly went forth and moved her right leg back and quickly thrust it forward to kick the head off of the zombie.

Just when she was about to head back to the van, an accented voice said, "Impressive, but some of that stuff won't do you much good."

"Huh?" Tammy quickly turned towards her left and right before her very eyes was a man in dark clothing. This man wore black all over, ranging from shoes to his trench coat. The man appeared to be of African ancestry and had long dreadlocks and a beard on his face. He also had a long stick in his hand.

"Wait, do I know you?" she said.

"All I can tell you is that the devil has now come and hell has fallen here," the man said. "If you want your boyfriend to overcome the hell that he is facing, I suggest you come with me."

Then it hit her. "Wait, I think I remember you. You said something about the devil walking the earth recently. What do you mean?"

"I know you want to help your boyfriend, I see everything around here," the man said. "But that stuff in your bag will not help him. If you want him to get better soon, come with me. I know some things."

_How does he know about any of this?_ She thought and looked at him with a look mixed with suspicion and confusion.

"Who the hell are you?!" she said. "What do you want?"

"I want to help you," the man said. "But you have to trust me. I promise that I will not hurt you."

Suspicion flowed through Tammy's head at that point. To say that she had little trust in him would be an understatement. As much as she wanted Andy to recover quickly, she had a really weird feeling about this. But there had to be a way and this man might know something.

**September 29th**

**9:51 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**26:48:04**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had been meaning to bring back this character as he was rarely seen since Chapter 7 and was only seen for a bit in Chapter 15. Now we will see what this guy is all about. I will pick up on this very soon, whether it's in the next one or in the one after.
> 
> Also, I felt that it was time for Tammy to go solo. She had been mainly a partner in a lot of chapters and it was finally her time to shine. If Andy and Ana had gone solo in some chapters, why shouldn't Tammy?
> 
> The drug store in this is clearly based on Walgreens, but the reasoning for the name is because it was used in the comic book series, "Dead Rising: Road to Fortune." I must add that the name was also a reference to the writer of the comics, Tom Waltz.
> 
> One more thing, this mysterious guy is visually based on Mr. Sunshine from Saints Row 2 and the character of Icepick from Bad Boys II. So he has this vibe of a Haitian witchdoctor-type. Can he be trusted? Find out next time.


	23. Broken Into Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude chapter told in different perspectives.

The enigmatic man turned his back towards Tammy and advised her to follow his lead so that she could find a solution for Andy's injuries. She slowly followed him but looked him with a look of uncertainty on her face. The first time she had encountered him was only a couple of days prior. He was hanging out in front of that fortune-telling place, but why was he there? What did he mean by "the devil walking the earth"? To top everything off, how did he know about her boyfriend's condition?

"Stop, I want to know something," she said.

The man turned around and faced her. Even if he meant no harm to her, the vibe he had gave her a feeling of unease. A chill flowed through her veins in that moment. It wasn't just at that point that she felt that way. She had the exact same feeling when she, Andy, and Ana went to the place a couple of days ago. The man had light green eyes and had a rather dark tone in his skin and it was close to matching his attire. What was even more puzzling was how he could even wear all black and a trench coat in a tropical climate like that.

Though really, Tammy was wearing a green denim jacket with a black shirt and dark blue jeans. She had no room to talk then.

"There is no time for questions, young lady," the man said. "You want to help the man you love. I know the way to do it. You have to follow me."

"Can you at least tell me your name?" Tammy said. "Also, how do you know so much what's going on around here? You knew that my boyfriend was injured. Also, what's this talk about 'the devil'?"

The man immediately responded, "They call me Ogoun. I have a gift that can help you and your lover. I know a lady who can also help."

"Is this lady your wife?" she said.

"You ask a lot of questions, young lady," Ogoun said. "Just walk with me and you will get your answers. Don't ask anymore questions. There is no time and this is not the place to stop and ask questions. Follow me, dear."

Tammy looked around and noticed that zombies weren't approaching them right then. Even when zombies were in their path, some dropped or moved out of the way for Ogoun. What kind of effect did he have on them? There were so many questions on her mind, including what she had already asked him.

She followed his lead and didn't ask anymore questions. That didn't mean she didn't trust him. He still gave her a weird vibe, but if he knew some of the stuff about what she went through, she had to give him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't like he was ready to cause her any harm. He seemed threatening at first, but he didn't say anything threatening. She had to see for herself.

The zombies turned a blind eye towards them. She didn't drink any of those special juices that she had made. She had also found recipes for other drinks like one that would cause the zombies to not approach people at all, or even one that would cause someone to run fast. There were different options that she could use in that situation.

She carried her hybrid weapon with her in case any zombies were to try attacking them. Though it seemed that weren't going to do anything to them, it was better to have it and not need than to need it and not have it. Still, she was puzzled at how they were immune to the zombies, or at least that man was.

It only took a couple of blocks to get to their destination. Tammy backed and saw the sign in the exterior and the place looked familiar to her. As a matter of fact, she had been there before. Then she started to realize that there was a connection with Ogoun and the person who ran this particular place.

"Why are we here?" She said. "This is the fortune teller place."

"I said no more questions, young lady," he said. "Just follow me inside."

Tammy followed the dreadlocked man inside. The lights were dim inside just as she remembered when she and Andy first visited the place, for fun at that. The second time the lights weren't really on, as it was before business hours then. This time, however, the lights were dim like if it were open for business.

Out of the darkness through bead doors walked a middle-aged woman, bordering on elderly, of Haitian descent with a long dress and a head wrap around her head. It wasn't just anybody, though. It was Madame Poulet.

"Fear not, Tammy," she said. "I sense that you needed some help."

Tammy backed up a tad after she heard that.

"Madame, what's going on here? Who is this man? What does he want with me?"

"Silence, young woman," Madame said. "I have all the answers you need and the solution you need for Andy."

Tammy looked at her and then turned her attention towards Ogoun. When she first encountered that man, there was a lot of confusion on her end. "Who was he?" was the main question on her mind, but now the question on her mind was what their connection was. What was that man doing in front of the place that morning?

"Tammy, I have all the answers to your questions," Madame said. "I know what you're thinking. Who is this man right here? This is my son."

Tammy looked directly at Ogoun. She realized that the man wasn't as old as he appeared at first glance. He appeared to be in his mid-30s. Her question was now answered, but that wasn't the end of her curiosity, not by a long shot.

"When you, Andy, and that other girl came here two days ago, you wondered who he was," Madame said. "Now you know, and I know what else you're thinking. Why was he outside my place? He wanted to reconcile with me. With the apocalypse upon us and the devil walking the earth, he wanted to make peace with me before it was too late. In fact, he had been wanting to make amends with me for so long. As a mother, I had to forgive him."

"What is "this devil" you're talking about?" Tammy said.

"I'll take this one, Mother," Ogoun interrupted. "The devil is Carlos Mendoza."

Tammy had heard the name before, from Andy, from Ana, through the media as he was a wanted fugitive on the run. It had been noted that he had involvement in the outbreak, how he was working with Phenotrans. But was there more than meets the eye?

"I worked with Mendoza before," Ogoun said. Right then, Tammy had a shocked look on her face, while Poulet stood there with little surprise, as it seemed that she knew about this.

"I was approached to work as a dealer for his cartel and he wanted me to manufacture a new drug called 'Voodoo Dust.' I wanted no part of it as I only dealt some of their drugs for financial reasons. I had an affiliation with the Sons of Legba, a Haitian street gang. I was not a member, but I knew some people who were members and they said that I would make a great manufacturer for some of their product. The Sons of Legba were connected with Mendoza, but when he found that I didn't want to deal in drugs anymore, he sent some of his men, as well as the Caribbean Boyz, his other street gang connection after me and then shot up some members of the Sons of Legba, as well as innocent people in Little Port Au-Prince, my old neighborhood. I sensed that he was making his return to this whole city and now that hell has risen, hell has only begun."

Tammy looked at him with shock. She now knew what that street gang's involvement in the outbreak was. To her, it was no coincidence that they were there that morning and ambushed them. They popped up at every moment, whether she was out there with the club bouncer and the beach cop, or even there at the place where Andy was tortured. So it wasn't like these guys were causing trouble just because.

"How do you know so much about what's going on?" she asked. "You said something about my boyfriend earlier."

Madame Poulet interrupted. "He possesses the same gift as I. He is able to see everything around here. I, too, know that Andy is not well right now. He had been hurt by some evil men. I tried to warn him about someone who was about to come between you and him."

_No argument there._ Tammy thought to herself. She knew exactly what she meant by that.

"I didn't make this clear earlier, but my son and I also know a way to cure Andy," Poulet said. "Ogoun and I also specialize in special medicines. We have just the thing for your lover."

The shock on Tammy's face expanded even more. She may have checked out the fortune teller that one day and she had foreshadowed a lot of things, such as Andy's proposal, the outbreak, and with her and her son knowing about some things related to the outbreak, she had to trust them. If they say that they have the solution for Andy's condition, there was no going back from this one. She may have found a way to cure Andy of his injuries.

* * *

**THE MENDOZA MANSION**

It was now time for Ana and Simpson to show each other the videos of what went down in Downtown the night before. It would have been a better if they had done it sooner, but considering that they had long nights, it needed to wait. After all, Ana and Brad joined Tammy on her mission to rescue Andy.

Simpson knew that Brad was now infected with the zombie virus. Despite him being a help on this mission, he had little trust considering how it could only be a matter of time if he would turn. Because he was bitten on the neck, why didn't he turn so fast? Ana may have gotten him Zombrex, but usually if someone is bitten on a shoulder or on the neck, the reanimation process is a lot faster. Brad couldn't have been luckier if that were the case.

Either way, Brad prepared himself with another casing of the drug. That woman Tonya found it and knew that he needed it, after he had injected himself with it at Roy's Mart. He knew that he will need in the long run, but at the moment, he could at least get himself some more to last him, if he doesn't get bitten again, that is.

Simpson had asked Ana and Brad to follow him into another room of the house. He needed to speak to both of them in private. He would go into the surveillance room, but Paulson was handling matters by looking at the monitors for any other activity.

Bruce had found a room close to the armory, which no one was in. He shut the door.

"Okay, Ana, show me what you saw last night," Bruce said. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine."

Ana had charged up her phone and then went into the gallery and found the video that she filmed. Once it started playing, she turned the screen towards her superior officer. Simpson grabbed the smartphone and saw the video. Everything that happened, ranging from Simon being held at gunpoint to Simon's betrayal of Brad was shown. Simpson's face grew shocked, but now he realized that the guy whom he videoed was the same as who Ana filmed. He definitely seemed like the head of the operation on the city's outbreak.

He looked at Brad and wondered how the zombies didn't just tear him apart and eat every inch of his body. "You're one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?"

Brad nodded his head and chuckled at the comment a tad. It wasn't clear whether he meant that Brad was lucky that he didn't turn quickly or that they didn't just eat him. It appeared that the zombies were sloppy at that point, despite how aggressive they are at night.

Bruce handed Ana her phone back to her, and then handed her his smartphone.

"What's this?" Ana said.

"Remember I sent you the message that I got something on that guy?" Simpson said. "This is what I found."

Ana and Brad looked at the screen and saw that same man from before. The footage showed him talking on his phone to the director of Phenotrans. They finally figured out what Simon's role in the outbreak was. He wasn't just a turncoat ZDC agent. He had worked for that company the whole time. Then came the moment he answered a called when he said, "Hello, Mr. Mendoza." Things started to come together.

"So what do we do now?" Ana said.

"I think Mendoza is in town now," Simpson said. "We have to found out where he is and then take that guy in."

"Are you talking about Walters? That guy is heavily guarded," Ana said. "We don't know where they are."

Brad cut in, "Even if we find them, I think that Walters and Simon will send their man after us. I saw that some of the Phenotrans guys and other gangsters taking out innocent people when we were out there. Besides, Simon pushed me into the zombies to kill me. My only concern is bringing that fucker in."

Simpson replied, "Park, with all due respect, you can't let your personal issues get in the way of all this. Also, how do I know that you're not going to turn soon? You're infected, right?"

"I'm going to tell you right now," Brad said. "If I do turn, shoot me. The only thing that I want more is to take Phenotrans and that asshole Simon Gates down, along with Mendoza. I have some Zombrex when I need it. Like I said, if I turn, just kill me. I don't care."

Ana had a look of concern on her face when looked right him.

"Before you ask me, I had informed my superior about my partner's betrayal," Brad said. "He told me that I should take him alive. If not me, then the other ZDC agents out there should try to get him. I believe in laying down the law."

"Me, too," Simpson said. He then realized that he had a little more than 24 hours until the military was supposed to come, but it still wasn't clear on what they would do. Were they going to come and evacuate any safe zones to take survivors out of the city? Or were they going to eliminate anybody and then bomb the entire place?

Simpson knew that he had one thing that he had to do and that was make a call. He had to see if he could try to get the military to at least get the survivors from the mansion out of there and at least try to find others in the city.

Another thing had hit him. He remembered that Paul had those photos and videos from the swamp where the camp was. He thought that it was time for the media to get their hands on it to show the world what Phenotrans had been up to.

* * *

**UPSTAIRS**

Andy lied in the bed where Tammy left him. All he could think about was what he went through and also that his sweetheart was out there all alone. Though he believed in her, he still felt concerned for her. He still couldn't shake that nightmare he had about her turning into a zombie. It was a mixed feeling that he had. She was able to handle herself out there, whether it was against a martial artist/assassin or against a gangster who tried to kill her. She was able to take care of herself.

He then looked over at the nightstand and saw that she had left her earpiece behind, right next to the earpiece that he used.

Oh shit. He thought. Then it rang. Then it rang again. He reached for it and put it against his ear.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey, I found some stuff you may want to check out," Agent Paulson said.

"Oh, sorry, I can't, I am taking a rest right now," Andy said. "Tammy is out there right now, but she left her earpiece here. I could let her know if you want."

"Oh, okay," Paulson said. "Just let your girlfriend know that I see some ice cream truck right near North Shore and it looks like some clown on stilts or something. I can't tell. I also see a man and a woman gunning down a lot of zombies on the feed. They look like they are in Little Port Au-Prince. You know what; I'll get Torres to do this."

"I'll let Tammy know," Andy said. "I'll text her."

He felt that would have been the better option as calling her would likely distract her, even though she could find a place to hide from zombies or worse, mercenaries and gangsters.

_Hey, you left your earpiece here. There is some clown out there in North Shore. You might want to check it out. Also, a man and a woman are shooting zombies in Little Port Au-Prince. Just letting you know. By the way, did you find anything?_

He put his phone down and reached for a remote control to turn on the TV. The news was on.

_In other news on the Palm Tree City Outbreak, several reporters had interviewed people who had been in outbreaks before. We will take you to an interview with the British metal band, Angel Lust, who were supposed to perform in Palm Tree City this weekend but canceled when they got word of the outbreak. Lead singer Jeanna Slick noted that she, along with the band's guitarist, Floyd Stone, and the band's bassist, Allen Ash gave zombies quite a show._

_"It was some crazy *beep* that we went through in Fortune City, love," Jeanna said. "I thought that our audience was just dressed for a show and then some wanker comes on stage to tell us that they were zombies."_

_Allen added, "I thought that me bass was too loud and then we saw the zombies exploded into a bloody mess. That was pure bollocks, mate. I thought that our shows in London were tough, but that one was even tougher."_

_Floyd gave his input, "What's crazy about all this was that we became even more popular in America because of it. Many people bought our latest album, we started selling out places. It was just bloody insane."_

_Standup comedian Royce St. John was also supposed to take part in a show that same weekend but he had shared that he, too, was in the Fortune City fiasco._

_"I couldn't allow the same thing to happen to me twice," Royce said. "Though I will say that my experience made my comedy bits more interesting. I have a lot stories to tell."_

_Beach volleyball players, Kerri Reece and Gabby McPeak noted that they were supposed to compete at a tournament that weekend but before they took off, they had received word about the outbreak. There hasn't been any sign of their opponents, Holly Young and April Summer, anywhere._

_Reece noted, "I just hope they're okay." McPeak nodded her head with a concerned look on her face._

_Author and activist Stacey Forsythe-Greene had this to say._

_"The infected were once people, but the one thing that you should worry about is that there is more danger in people than the infected," she said._

_Reporters tried to interview her husband Chuck Greene, former motocross champion, but he refused to be interviewed. Several reporters also tried to interview photojournalist Frank West, who had also covered the Willamette Incident in 2006. Listen to what he had to say._

_"I know that the government will try to cover this *beep* outbreak like they did the others. Don't look at me like that. I'll say what I want. All the facts about Willamette were in my book. Yeah, I said it."_

_More on this after these messages._

While the commercials were rolling, Andy lied there and reached for his phone. He went to his photo gallery on social media. He looked at a lot of the pictures of him with Tammy, from any dates they went on to the times he accompanied her to birthday parties and such. What could she be doing right now? He just remembered that he encouraged her to go out on her own, especially after she saved him. He would be dead if it wasn't for her. He shouldn't have to worry about her, but he still felt concern. He was determined that they will leave the city in one piece.

The news had come back after the commercials. Susan Collier, the UBN anchor started to say what she needed to say.

Before we get to some more interviews with survivors of past outbreaks, I just received word that there hasn't been any sign of any living people in the city.

"What?!" Andy got up when he heard that.

Some ZDC agents found bodies of humans on the ground. There has been speculation that the city may be bombed soon, but we haven't received a final decision from General Lyons. He stated that…

Andy turned off the TV and just lied there deep in thought. The main thing that he wanted to do was take down Simon for having started the outbreak and also torturing him. He wanted nothing more than to cause the same amount of pain that he inflicted on him. With that threat towards Tammy, he was sure that he would prevent that from happening, but he was unable to at the moment.

Plus, he had set up the contract on him. He had every reason to want to hurt him. But he'll be damned if Simon were to get close to Tammy.

Now that the news had stated about no traces of any living beings, he needed to tell everyone about it. He tried to get up out of the bed, but started to ache in his and when he moved his left leg, the pain came back again. He screamed a bit from the pain.

_Tammy, I hope you get that stuff for me soon._ He thought to himself. He needed to talk to her badly. He did the only thing he could do.

* * *

**MADAME POULET'S FORTUNE TELLING**

Tammy followed Poulet and Ogoun into a room. It wasn't just any room. It seemed like a storage room that had exactly what she needed for Andy.

"Tammy, I want you to take this," Ogoun said as he handed her a bottle with red liquid inside. "It will heal your boyfriend's injuries."

"My fiancé," she corrected him. Once she grabbed the bottle, she looked at it. The sticker on it looked like it had a serpent coming out of the eyes of a skull. "Is this stuff safe?"

"Don't let the color and the sticker fool you," Poulet said. "This should heal him. You will also need this." She handed her a syringe. "I must inform you that he will not heal right after you inject him with it. It will take some time."

"You must put this serum in the area where he feels most pain," Ogoun said. "It can be injected into various parts of the body."

"Thank you so much for this," Tammy said. "Listen, you two saved my fiancé's life right now. I think I should take you two to safety."

Ogoun and Poulet tried to decline her offer. They told her that she shouldn't have to do this.

"Come on, it's the least I could do for you," she said. "You helped Andy. It's not safe around here. I know a place where I could take you."

Suddenly, her phone starts ringing. She picked it up and saw a picture of Andy on the screen. She hit "accept."

"Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"Hey, did you get my message?" Andy said.

"No, I didn't, what's going on?" Tammy said and then saw that she had an unread message.

"Never mind, I just wanted to tell you that you left your earpiece here and that someone saw something on the monitor," Andy said.

Just then, Tammy knew that she forgot something when she left the safe house earlier. "Oh shit, you're right. Hey, listen, I got something here for you that can help you get better. I hope it works. I'll bring it back to you right now."

"Hurry up, I need to tell Ana and Agent Simpson something fast," Andy said. "Come back right now."

"I will, honey," Tammy said. She ended the call and then looked towards Ogoun and Poulet. "We have to go now."

The two followed her to the front entrance of the place. She picked up her weapon with the broomstick and the machete. The trio exited the shop and Tammy put the serum and the syringe in the bag that she had with the meds for Andy. She felt that he could still use them. She was prepared to kill any zombie if she had to, but as they walked, Ogoun and Poulet walked through and they just dropped or just didn't pay them any mind. Tammy walked close with them in case they were to try biting her. It wasn't long until they got to the van that she drove. She got out the key and put it in the ignition. The mother and her son sat in the backseat. Tammy turned the van around and headed back to the island where the safe house was. She mowed through zombies in the process but rode through a clearer road so she wouldn't have to worry about the undead. It was time to give Andy a cure for his injuries.

* * *

**ELSEWHERE**

Simon and Walters stood on the roof of a building that had a helipad with a few Phenotrans mercenaries. Ricardo was there, too, with a few of his men. A helicopter started flying towards them.

Walters had set up a meeting for these men. It was after 10 AM and they had to meet with an important client. Who could it have been? It could only be one person that they were meeting.

The helicopter landed on the pad. Once it was on the pad, a couple of men got off the chopper and approached the men. Two men, one in a suit, the other in a collared polo shirt and some khaki pants and were wearing sunglasses had a man walking behind them. The man wore a white suit with a black shirt and had long hair in a ponytail and a beard. He was wearing sunglasses as well.

"Gentlemen, how wonderful it is for us to all meet here," the man said. "I would have wanted it to be lower, but it seems that it's quite dead down there, if you catch my drift."

"Hello, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "We arranged for this meeting so that we can talk about when we will make our grand escape. Do you have a plane for us?"

"Of course I do, but we are not done here," Mendoza said. "Our deal was to have some of your men break my father out of the Miami State Correctional Facility and bring him here and then we get out of here."

"All in good time, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "We're not done here yet. You said that you also wanted the virus to spread in Miami as well. We're still trying to look for the person we have to infect in order to start the outbreak there. You see there was a list of orphans and two people were stated to not be infected. One of them, however, escaped before she could get infected. We're trying to find her. Once we get her infected and your dad out of jail, then we'll leave."

"The sooner the better, Mr. Walters," Mendoza said. "I just hope your men know what their doing."

Simon then leaned towards Walters and whispered in his ear.

"Mr. Gates and I will only be a minute," Walters said.

The two walked away a little far from them.

"Hey, I think I have an idea where that girl might be," Simon said. "Plus, there are a lot of people there that we can just take out."

"Listen, I am all about the plan right now," Walters said. "We'll handle the rest of that shit later, whether it's getting zombies inside the place or getting some of our men to mop up all of those people. Besides, we need to show him the lab of what we're trying to do. There is more that needs to be done. Our men are on their way to Miami to break his father out of jail."

"Listen, our little problem hasn't been solved," Simon said. "The FBI is onto us. That ZDC asshole is still alive, same with those civilians who have been helping them. We need to take them out."

"We'll get there, but now is not the time," Walters said. "We have other shit to do."

Walters walked away while Simon looked at him with a scowl on his face. He wanted to take care of thing as soon as possible, but his boss had other plans. He was upset about this, as he just wanted to take out Brad, Tammy, and Andy, as well as Ana and Simpson. That was what he mainly cared about, as well as killing other survivors.

But he had to obey his boss's orders, whether he wanted to or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's obvious that Andy will recover from his injuries, but how soon will he recover?
> 
> I also must note that I had thought about putting in Angel Lust and Royce St. John in this story, but I scrapped those plans. It was better to have a cameo from them. There may be another with some more from their respective interviews.
> 
> Also, regarding Chuck refusing to be interviewed, it seemed kind of in-character for him because he didn't seem like the type to be interviewed, especially after all he went through, ranging from his wife's death as well as Katey's infection. As for Frank, that's how I would imagine he would act in an interview like that, especially with his portrayal in "Case West," as well as "Off The Record," even though that wasn't canon.
> 
> I also forgot to mention this from a previous chapter. Those beach volleyball players, Holly Young and April Summer were references to actual beach volleyball players like Holly McPeak, Elaine Youngs, as well as April Ross and Summer Ross, whom are not related by the way. The same could be said about the ones in the news scene, as some of them were references to Kerri Walsh Jennings and Gabrielle Reece.
> 
> One more thing, it was time to finally give one of the other main villains an introduction. He will be featured a little more in other chapters.


	24. Putting the Pieces Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another interlude chapter told in different perspectives.

As Andy lied in the bed awaiting Tammy to bring him the medicine he needed, he lied there deep in thought. He had the news on the TV in the room, but even with more coverage on the outbreak, he had so much on his mind that he couldn't keep focus on the report.

The central point in his mind was what Simon told him, how he had started the outbreak and that he set the whole thing up for his own selfish reasons, but could there have been more than meets the eye?

_If we would have died at the start of the outbreak, what was next for him? What if I had died but Tammy lived? Or what if it was the other way around? Would he have tried to save her and try to woo her? What was his endgame?_

_Also, would the same shit happen if Tammy and I went somewhere else? I wonder what would have happened if we went to the Uranus Zone instead. Would that place be infected with zombies too? Or even the beaches in SoCal?_

Like he had thought before, it couldn't have only been because Andy was with his ex-girlfriend. The thought then occurred to him what would have happened if he was killed from the torture. It was obvious that if Tammy, Ana, and the others didn't come for him, he wouldn't be lying in that bed breathing the same air.

Besides, it seemed far-fetched that he had a hand in trying to get the outbreak to happen on this particular date. If that drug lord had been working out a deal with that shady pharmaceutical company, they had probably been talking about the plan for a long time already. Then again, he may have had his ways in convincing people. Why else would some hard street ruffians listen to him?

He and Tammy had planned on a getaway for a while. He had initially thought about going to the Uranus Zone, which was an amusement park with a science fiction theme. It had been built sometime after the destruction of Fortune City. It was initially going to be built close to the plaza, but after the firebombing, the builders had built it somewhere close to Henderson, Nevada.

The other option was going to Santa Monica and Venice, California, maybe even check out Los Perdidos while they were in Southern California. But in the end, they chose Palm Tree City, Florida; even there were other areas in Florida that they could have visited.

But what Simon didn't expect was that Andy had become rather vigilant from the experience of being in a zombie outbreak. Though he had gone through the depression that nearly killed him, circumstances caused him to read a best-selling book of the Willamette outbreak. It even led to him to looking up the Tape It of Die blog. He was even supposed to meet with those people in Fortune City, but then the outbreak happened. Horror like that will stay with someone for life, but it was not enough to keep him down. He did not let it affect him.

The other thing that was on his mind was that he needed to tell Ana and Agent Simpson that Simon was the real mastermind behind the outbreak. He still couldn't move well because of his injuries. The knee was one thing, but after taking that blow to his lower back, he would be lucky if he moved without an ache in his body.

Outside, a van had pulled up as it drove through the gate with the transit bus right outside the yard. The van had come to a stop and the driver's side door opened as Tammy had stepped out. From the back, Madame Poulet and her son, Ogoun, had followed her and walked fast to get inside. Once the door opened, Ana, Brad, and Simpson had stood near the staircase with other survivors such as Eric and the nerds, as well as Rhonda and Gary, as well as Ross and Tonya watched as they walked right in.

Ana walked right up to Tammy and the two people who were with her.

"Tammy, what's going on? Where were you?" Ana asked and then looked over at Madame and Ogoun. "And is that that fortune teller?" She looked right at Ogoun. "Wait, aren't you that same guy who…?"

"They're here to help Andy," Tammy said. "They provided some kind of medicine that might help him get better. He also has something he needs to tell all of you."

"What's that?" Simpson said.

"Follow me," Tammy said.

The three agents, along with Madame Poulet and Ogoun all followed her to the bedroom where Andy was. Several survivors watched as they all walked to the room.

The door opened and Andy turned his attention and watched as everyone had walked in.

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" Tammy said as she walked towards him.

"Still feel like shit, but at least I'm alive," Andy said. "I couldn't thank you enough for what you did."

"You don't have to thank me," Tammy said. "I love you so much and I would do anything for you. You know that."

"I would do the same for you, and you know that, too," Andy said, and then looked up and noticed other people in the room, including a couple of people whom surprised him with their presence.

"Wait, Madame Poulet?" He then looked towards Ogoun. "Wait, I think I remember you."

"They're here to help you," Tammy then got out that bottle with the red liquid and also the syringe.

He looked right at the bottle. Weird symbol aside, especially with the snake going through the skull, there was something suspicious about their presence. Ogoun gave Andy a weird vibe before.

"Allow me, madam," Ogoun said to Tammy. "I'll handle this."

Tammy handed him the bottle and the syringe. He put the needle into the bottle and raised the plunger so that the liquid could flow into the barrel through the bevel.

"What's that stuff supposed to do?" Andy said.

"They told me that it's supposed to help heal your injuries," Tammy said.

"Fear not, young man," Madame's Caribbean accent caught his attention. "My son and I know what we are doing."

"Wait, that guy is your son?" Andy said. "What's going on here?"

Tammy filled her boyfriend in on everything that happened out there when she went to get him some medicine. She had noted that they envisioned everything that happened.

Ogoun had filled the syringe with the substance. He approached Andy and asked him to try to roll over and then asked Tammy to pull up his shirt to expose his back. Ogoun pierced the needle into his lower back and slowly pushed down the plunger and injected him. He then asked him to roll over once again and Ogoun punctured the needle into his lower left quad adjacent to his left knee. Once again, he injected the substance in his system.

"How long does it take to kick in?" Andy said.

"You won't feel the effects until maybe a few hours from now," Ogoun said. His accent and presence may have given Andy an odd presence, but if his girl trusted him, he had to give him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't like there was much choice in the matter. The doctor had told him that it would take a long time for him to heal. He needed to recover fast. If Poulet and Ogoun knew a lot of things about what they went through, and that they had a special medicine, there was only one way to find out. Hopefully it could heal his wounds, too, but he wasn't holding his breath for that.

The only thing he could do is sit back and wait for the effects to kick in. He wasn't at 100 percent, at least not yet.

"Tammy told us that you need to tell us something," Ana had to let it out. She wondered why she didn't go check on him, but it hadn't been that long since that doctor looked at his injuries.

"I was watching the news and the reporter said that there is no sign of any survivors out there in the city," Andy said.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Simpson said.

"If you think that's bad, it gets worse," Andy said. "They also said that there is a chance that we will get firebombed."

Just then, the room went into a complete silence and the looks on everyone's faces had expressions of shock and confusion. Andy noted that some ZDC agents had found bodies of some survivors on the ground. Some would believe it was the result of the walking cadavers that were flooding the streets. Others would believe it was the result of some mercenaries and gangsters gunning down any living people out there. In either case, even though both parties could be a factor, it seems that everyone was screwed.

"I don't fucking believe this," Simpson said. "We have to get everyone out of here. If they plan to bomb this place, then the government will try to cover up this entire incident like they did in Willamette and Fortune City."

"One more thing, Simon is the one who is behind the outbreak," Andy added.

Ana replied, "How do you know?"

"He told me," Andy paused. "Right to my fucking face when he was torturing me."

"Why would he tell you?" Simpson said.

"Because he thought that I was going to die from all the torture, so I wouldn't say anything."

"I knew that guy was incompetent and an asshole," Brad added his input. "But I didn't think that guy was a criminal mastermind."

"He is a manipulator," Tammy added. "I know this from personal experience."

Simpson looked right at Andy and said, "Thank you for filling me on this. I need to make a call."

Brad added, "I need to make a call, too. I need to talk to my superiors. We really need to get to the bottom of this."

Ana followed Bruce and Brad outside. As much as she wanted to stay and check on Andy, she had orders to follow. With the man who headed the operation being in the city, it was time for them to bring him in, and then maybe he would lead them to the big fish.

Back in the room, Tammy sat on the bed next to Andy, while Madame Poulet and Ogoun stood before them.

"If you two need a moment alone, we will leave," Madame said.

"Thanks, we need to talk," Tammy said. "Thank you so much for everything."

"You're welcome, young lady," Ogoun said. "If you need anything, we'll be close."

* * *

Outside of the room, Simpson led the way for the two agents to follow him. He figured that several survivors were around, so he didn't want to put them in a state of worry or fear. There was only one place that they could go to that was private enough.

They entered the surveillance room. Simpson signaled to Paulson to excuse himself. He noted that he noted to go to the bathroom anyway.

"Okay, Ana, Brad, we are running out of time," Simpson said. "We barely have 24 hours left on the clock before the military comes and we still don't know what they will do. Andy had told us about that news report. If they had found any bodies of survivors out there, then that might be the only evidence that they're using. Someone must not be looking hard enough. I tried to tell that general that we have survivors here, but he said that he couldn't give the green light for any soldiers or even the Coast Guard or Navy to come and get everyone out of here."

While she listened to her superior speak, Ana noticed something on the feed once again. There were plenty of survivors out in the city whom refused to be taken to the safe house. They were only trapped behind a horde and once they were cleared, they just ran off to find their own safe zone. She had noticed on the TV that a man and a woman were running away from zombies. However, what drew her attention much further was that the man and the woman had come to a complete stop and were gunned down at the hands of Phenotrans mercenaries. In another feed, a guy was behind tortured by gang members and also what appeared to be Mendoza's goons, right before he died a gruesome death.

Though she had the knowledge of Simon Gates being the mastermind behind the outbreak, there had to be a plan for something big. If they were trying to clear the city of any living people, one could hazard a guess that someone had the military's ear or at least a general's ear about there being a lack of survivors. If the initial plan was to have Special Forces search the area and save any living people, and take them to safety, or even have it be a joint effort with the Navy and Coast Guard to come and take the survivors from the safe house, then someone must be preventing it from happening. Even if there were living people that they haven't killed yet, chances were really good that the military would green-light the firebombing which would not only kill the undead, but also people left in the city.

Aside from all of that, there had to be some other plans before they would all call it day. That double-agent couldn't possibly have that much pull to have Walters wrapped around his little finger. The footage on the video that she shot showed how Simon was towards his boss.

In that moment, Bruce had to make a call to General Lyons once again, or at least any high-ranking military official.

"Hello, may I please speak to General Lyons," he said. "My name is Bruce Simpson of the FBI and I would like to have a word with him or anybody for that matter. Yes, this is important. I am heading the operation in Palm Tree City, Florida to bring in Carlos Mendoza, who has a link to the zombie outbreak out here. Yes, I'll hold."

Ana and Brad remained in the room while Simpson waited for the call to go through.

"So tell me, how did you become a ZDC agent?" Ana said.

Brad looked at her weird when she asked him that.

"Hey, I'm just trying to make conversation here, don't get defensive," Ana said.

Brad stated, "I had served in the Marines for years and after I retired from the service, I was approached by the ZDC one day and I applied and then went through the training and here I am. I investigated a lot of outbreaks, but I never got into anything this big."

"Yeah, well, I am still a rookie when it comes to the field," Ana said. "I was only working undercover as a hotel employee. Then this all happened."

"You seem young, how did you get involved in this?"

"Well, I graduated early with a Bachelor's Degree in computer science and I was given the opportunity to work for the FBI and then I applied. I started off as a computer technician, but then I wanted to go work in the field, so I went through the training. I was assigned a job to gain Intel at the Hotel Caribbean, which Carlos Mendoza owned. I had gotten word that some people were shaking some of the employees down for protection, as well as some dealings going on. I am still green."

"You're able to handle yourself well for someone who is green," Brad said.

"I learned to shoot when I was younger," Ana said. "As for fighting, let's just say that I have some experience in scrapping."

After a few minutes, Simpson had walked into the room to tell the two agents what may have been going on.

"So I just got off the phone with the general," Bruce said. "He told me that ZDC agents have told him that they found the bodies of victims out there, or even some remains of the victims. I asked him who they were talking to and he wasn't given a name, just a ZDC agent."

Brad realized that he needed to contact his fellow agents to confirm what had been said. Because so much stuff has happened, it was only necessary for them to know that Simon had him nearly killed.

Simpson continued, "They still haven't made a decision for the rescue or the bombing. I told him that we have a lot of survivors here and they are more than ready to get the fuck out of here. They said that they'll try to get back ASAP. I told them that we don't have enough time, because they were supposed to come and evacuate tomorrow, but because things have been changing, they couldn't come up with a better plan. The city is still under quarantine."

Ana noticed something else on the feed. She had noticed a man and a woman were pinned down. They hid behind some cars and then ran towards an alley. They looked like they were armed. If they were going to be the next victims to be iced, then they might know something about the murders going on. For all she knows, they could have been defending themselves against the undead.

Just then, the veteran agent had finished talking. Brad stated that he needed to make a call to his fellow agents to ask him about what they had found, as well as tell them about his partner's betrayal. He hadn't been in contact with them in a while.

"Hey, Bruce, look at this," she said. She pointed towards the feed with the armed couple.

"How do we know that they are not mercenaries?" he said.

Some dark-dressed men appeared on the screen running towards them. The woman and the man were hiding.

"We have to find them," Bruce said.

"No, I think Brad and I will handle this," Ana said. "Keep me posted on the deal involving the military."

"I will, but if I find Walters on the feed, I'm going after him."

"Okay," she said and then extended her hand and shook her partner's hand.

Ana walked out of the surveillance room and saw Brad on the phone.

"…when I find him, I will take him in and contact you," Brad said. "I'll be in touch." He got off the phone.

"Hey, we need to go look for a couple of survivors," Ana said. "It seems that they have been putting up a fight against the mercs, but it's only a matter of time until they may run out of places to hide or run out of ammo."

"Do you know where they are?" Brad said.

"I think that they are out in Little Port Au-Prince," then another thought occurred to Ana. "Come on, I think I know who could help us."

In this type of situation, Ana needed all the assistance she could get. Even though she didn't really talk with these two people, she had an idea that they could give her and Brad a hand, especially with heavily armed gang members and mercenaries out there.

She and Brad went upstairs and came across a bedroom, the same room that she had spoken to a particular person. She knocked on the door.

A voice said, "Who is it?"

"This is Ana Torres. I spoke to Maria earlier."

The door opened, revealing Sheryl's face right in the crack.

"What do you want?"

"I want your help," Ana said. "I heard about the sniper attacks from earlier. I was wondering if you and your daughter could help me and my partner. People are dying out there. Can you cover for us? We're headed out to Little Port Au-Prince to look for some people, and maybe get some answers about the murders going on right now."

The Hall matriarch faced her with suspicion, but then thought that she could be onto something. Sheryl turned around and looked at Erin and Maria.

"Come on, girls, get your guns."

Ana responded, "Maria can't come."

"Why not?"

"Because they're still after her," Ana said. "Phenotrans are still looking for her."

"I won't let her out of my sight," Sheryl said. "I know that they're after her, but I promise that I will not let Erin or Maria out of my sight."

"We can handle ourselves," Erin said. "I'll look out for Maria, too."

Maria got out her rifle and loaded it with a clip and then cocked it. "Let's go."

Sheryl noted to Ana and Brad that they will take their own car to get to the destination. They'll find some vantage points to help clear them of any zombies or shady figures out there.

Ana and Brad took off and went to her SUV armed with whatever weapons they may need. Ana remembered that if things got heavy out there and if she ran low on ammo, she could use anything around her as a weapon. She also noted that to Brad, who agreed to the idea.

She put the key into the ignition and started up her car. The two agents were out to find the two gun-toting survivors, or from what it looked like, they were survivalists. Sheryl, Erin, and Maria all went into Sheryl's vehicle and took off to head out to North Shore.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Tammy stayed to comfort Andy. She wanted to stay by his side, but he needed to recover some more. His condition started to improve, but he still needed time before he can get back out there and fight alongside his lady.

But some things just needed to be done. It wasn't long until they could get out of the city. As far as they know, they had until tomorrow before they either get rescued or get bombed. It had only been a few days since the apocalypse had commenced, and as much as she wanted to stay with her fiancé, Tammy had to go back out there to check on some things.

She got up out of the bed and then picked up the keys and also her weapon with the broomstick and the machete. She was about to head out there, but then…

"Tammy…," Andy said and pointed to the nightstand where a headset was lying.

"Right, I forgot," she said. She walked towards the nightstand and put on the earpiece.

"I need to tell you something," Andy said. "When you left that here earlier, Agent Paulson called and told me something about a clown in North Shore and an ice cream truck. I'm not sure. You should go ask him."

Tammy had a look on her face like she thought that sounded weird. What was the deal with the clown?

"I'll be back, baby," Tammy said. "I will call you to see how you are feeling."

Andy nodded his head and then kissed her on her forehead this time. "Come back, okay?"

"I will," she said. She walked out the door with her weapon in hand and then went down the stairs.

Andy turned on the TV and the news coverage was still going on. At this point, a male journalist was seen interviewing someone. This seemed like an actual interview that he was watching, when the clips with that metal band and that comedian were just clips and were probably shown later.

_Welcome back. I am here interviewing 2012 LPGA champion Luz Palmer, who wanted to share her experiences of being in the Fortune City Outbreak. So Ms. Palmer, tell me how you ended up in that predicament._

* * *

Right when Tammy went down the stairs, she was approached by someone.

"Hey, sweetie," a woman's voice said.

Tammy jumped and turned out and noticed Rhonda standing there.

"Oh, hey," she said.

"How's your boyfriend feeling?" Rhonda said.

"He's getting better," Tammy said. "Those people helped him and it should take some hour before he fully gets better."

"That's good, he looked horrible when you and that one girl brought him in," Rhonda said.

Silence only came out of Tammy at that moment, as the last thing she wanted to share was what her man went through.

"Hey, listen, if you need any help out there, Gary and I will have your back," she said.

Tammy knew that they helped her with that assassin from before. She even saved her from getting burned by that insane mechanic. She owed them enough that she should have them by her side. If they needed to find something, she would definitely join them. On the other hand, she had other ideas.

"I'll get back to you on that," Tammy said. "I've got to check on something right now."

"Well, we'll be here if you want our help," Rhonda said. "You do what you need to do."

Tammy nodded her head and then walked towards the surveillance room. Paulson was back in his bay to check on the feeds.

"Hey, Andy told me about a clown that you saw earlier," Tammy said.

Paulson jumped and quickly turned around. He didn't expect to see anybody right there.

"Oh, hey, yeah, I saw some weird shit out there. This clown walking around and there was an ice cream truck. He was in North Shore, but he's not there anymore."

Tammy looked up and saw an ice cream truck on another feed. This time, it was at the boardwalk of the beach.

"Could that be what you were talking about?" she said.

Paulson looked closer at the same screen that she pointed towards. Suddenly, a clown started walking around. It looked like a clown standing on stilts inside the pants. The clown looked like he had a violet wig and a hat with an ice cream cone on his head.

_Something about this seems weird._ She thought to herself. _But I should check it out._

"I'll go take a look at it right now," Tammy said and left the room soon after.

"Okay, I'll keep you posted if I find anything else," Paulson said and Tammy heard him as she wasn't far off from when she left.

She headed straight for the van that she drove before. She could have taken any other car, but this guy may need to put his stilts somewhere. She was ready to see what the deal with that clown was. She started up the vehicle and she took off.

**September 29th**

**10:56 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**25:03:41**


	25. No Laughing Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tammy goes to the boardwalk to check out something involving clowns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I claim no ownership to the character of Callie McIntyre. That character belongs to RiceCakesWithStyle from Fanfiction.net, who wrote the story "Dead Rising: Operation Avarice," which I recommend.

**September 29th**

**11:09 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**24:50:37**

Tammy embarked on another mission and once again, she was all alone on this. She had been offered some assistance, but she declined. No one knew why, but one could assume that she was on a mission. She could have stayed at the safe house with Andy to take care of him, but the man she loved told her that she has what it takes to handle herself out there.

There was only a day left before the military would come and either rescue people, or try to mop up any casualties, or even worse, bomb the entire city with any trace of human life. She was there when the army came to Fortune City to try to evacuate the survivors, but it didn't go well because of a then-new strain of the virus which caused some zombies to get even more aggressive and powerful when under the influence of some kind of gas.

Could something like that happen again? No one knows. After all, she was among the dozens of people who got out of Fortune City alive, along with Andy, as well as some other familiar faces like the nerds, as well as the three female bodyguards.

It had been brought to her attention that some mercenaries and gangsters were murdering survivors. She figured that Ana had other fish to fry, and Andy wasn't at 100 percent yet, all who was left to find any survivors was her. But even she wasn't sure why she declined help of any survivors.

That didn't matter. She had seen a clown on stilts at the boardwalk on the beach. On the video feed, it looked like he was trying to sell some ice cream, but from what it also seemed, he didn't really grasp the idea that there were no living people around to sell any frozen treats to. She had to see if he was even aware of what was surrounding him. It was even said that the same truck had gone through North Shore.

When she read "The Willamette Incident," she had noticed bits involving survivors that had gone crazy, whether it was through paranoia, despair, or some whom were just depraved to begin with, like a female mall cop. From her personal experience, she had witnessed two magicians taking a young woman into the performance area of the Atlantica Casino during Fortune's End. The blonde guy was leading the way, while the shorter quiet guy carried her while she kicked and screamed. If only she had seen some other people who had gone crazy because of the outbreak. Only so few had redeemed themselves in the process.

She had arrived to the boardwalk on Palm Tree Beach. It was not far from when she dealt with Gregory the beach cop on the tower, nor was it far from the stadium that the beach volleyball tournament was supposed to take place. The boardwalk was actually between those two areas.

The van had pulled up and then she exited. Right before her very eyes was an area with businesses and a rollercoaster and a Ferris wheel. But what caught her attention even more was the ice cream truck, which had the colors of blue, pink, purple, and white on it. The back looked like it was shaped a person's buttocks and was designed to have butt cleavage for some reason. Above it, there was an emblem on it. The logo had what looked a clown's head with ice cream cones on both sides. Above the head in pink lettering read "I LOVE ICE CREAM." Below it, it read "STILT CLOWN EXTRAORDINAIRE."

The front of the truck looked like a clown's face with the nose on the grille and the eyes were the headlights with blue arches above them, as it looked like clown makeup. To top it off, the hood had an upside down ice cream cone with a scoop of ice cream splattered and smeared onto it.

What was even more puzzling was that another person was present. A lot of the attention was placed on the stilted clown on the feed, but it appeared that the other person wasn't seen on the feed. The person looked female and was dressed like a clown herself. She wore a pink and blue long dress clown outfit with pink and red stockings, and had on face paint with some symbols close to her eyes, as well as a multicolored wig on with a hat.

Tammy walked towards them and looked all around. She noticed that some zombies were present, but with these two, it almost felt like they didn't even sense the idea that they were among the undead. The female clown looked up and saw her coming and then got out three balls and started to juggle. The stilted clown yelled out, "Ice cream! Come on out, everyone! Come on, get your ice cream!"

The stilted clown, who wore a clown outfit with a blue top with polka dot sleeves. The pants had split designs on the legs, with one side being violet and had snowflakes on them, while the other had violet and dark red stripes and had pink clown shoes. While he had an ice cream cone hat wig on, a noticeable part about his face paint was that he had a snowflake design around his right eye. Ironic that he had snowflakes when the city was in a tropical area. He then turned around and noticed Tammy standing there and then walked on the stilts towards her. She looked at both clowns like something was a bit off about them.

The clown yelled, "Come on out, everyone!"

_What is with these clowns?_ She thought.

The stilted clown had eyes right on her, and then backed away a step. Because he was on stilts, it was possible that he could fall off and land right on her.

"Hey, down there, little lady," he said.

Tammy backed away once again. She was not sure what to expect from something like this. It wasn't that she was afraid of clowns, though that didn't mean that she wasn't either, but with some crazy people that she had encountered throughout the course of her "vacation," it was possible that these people had no sense of what was around them.

"I got to go," Tammy said and then tried to walk away and she was walking, the clown on stilts had walked past her to get right in front of her. With the clown towering over her, she looked right up at him.

"Now what flavor would you like, young lady?" he said. "I've got more flavors back in the car."

The lady clown walked towards Tammy juggling the three balls in different directions. "Would you like to see a trick? How about a balloon animal?"

She looked at both clowns. She maintained the same expression from the moment she had arrived to the boardwalk.

"I don't think you're going to sell a lot of ice cream right now," Tammy said to the male clown. "I think I'm good. No tricks or balloons for me," she said to the female clown. "Actually, I am here to take you to a safe house."

"Why do we need to be safe, little girl," the female clown said.

It was odd for Tammy to be called "little girl." She was only in her early-20s and from the looks of things, even under the face paint, the female clown didn't look much older than her, maybe about 3 or 4 years.

"Come on, you don't see what's around you?" Tammy said. She pointed out the obvious signs of the walking cadavers roaming around the area. "You don't see the zombies? They are hungry, but they're not hungry for ice cream."

The clowns looked around and just barely noticed the living dead writhing and swarming around the beach and the boardwalk. Furthermore, loads of zombies were seen walking on the streets as well. It was puzzling how the two clowns didn't realize that there were clowns in the area. Or maybe they acknowledged their existence but were in denial. So many different possibilities.

Whatever the case was, it wasn't like they didn't come prepared for anything like this. The stilted clown pulled out a weapon of some sort. It looked like it could be a toy cannon, but that all went out the window once the clown had squeezed the trigger to spray some icy or snowy substance towards a few zombies, causing a few of them to freeze.

Tammy saw a few zombies coming towards her, but she had her weapon with the broomstick and machete handy. Once a zombie approached her and tried to grab her, she swung it leftward towards the zombie and dismembered him, little did she notice that a frozen zombie was close by and in that moment, she hit the frozen cadaver and saw it shatter after she hit it.

"What the hell?" So much surprise was on display in her eyes. "What is that weapon you're holding?"

The stilted clown wasn't the only one was armed. The lady clown got out a small chainsaw, the kind that one could hold only in one hand. She also had a few knives on her, too.

"What? Did you actually think we didn't notice the zombies?" the female clown said.

"Actually, yes," Tammy said hesitantly. "Who are you guys?"

"My name is Callie," the female clown said. "That's my real name. Everyone calls me Calamity Candy." She pointed towards the stilted clown. "That's my brother Evan, but everyone calls him Frosty."

_Frosty, what a surprise._ Tammy thought. "I'm Tammy, by the way. Come on, I can get you somewhere safe."

Before they knew it, more zombies approached them. The question was why. There were only three people at the boardwalk at that moment, or so they believed. Also, zombies don't seem to crave any frozen treats, unless it's frozen flesh. Imagine if zombies were to enter a meat locker, as cold as they are.

Callie started up the chainsaw and quickly jumped up and forward and slashed a few zombies. She also got out a few knives and saw more coming towards them. She put the chainsaw to the ground and threw one knife to the head of a zombie. She threw another to the chest of another and then rolled over forward towards another zombie and quickly sliced the neck of the walking corpse from ear to ear.

Tammy walked towards the van. She turned around and looked at the two clowns in the eyes to ensure that they follow her. Evan followed her while on the stilts. Oddly enough, he was able to move at a reasonable pace despite being on stilts. They all walked on cement and more zombies slowly walked toward them. A group of them approached Tammy, who drew her weapon and impaled one with the sharp end of the broomstick and quickly pulled it out and spun around, swung it to behead another zombie that was behind the zombie she just killed.

But that wasn't the end of them. More kept coming towards the trio. Tammy wasn't about to back down. If there was anything that she learned in the past few days, it was that she had to fight to survive. Before she was about to attack, an odd explosion occurred as she noticed that the zombies were frozen, but they weren't the only ones that were frozen. She noticed that she couldn't move and looked down and saw an icy substance around her legs. She turned around and saw that Evan was holding what appeared to be some kind of bomb in his hands.

"Oops, sorry, young lady!" he said.

She swung her weapon to shatter the frozen zombies to pieces. She then used the broken end of her weapon to break some of the ice off of her legs. She managed to get her feet out of the ice and proceeded to move.

Evan aimed his snow cannon to more zombies. He only froze a few, but Callie used some of her skills defend herself, which impressed Tammy a bit.

"Where did you learn some of these tricks?"

"Our older brother had taught me a few tricks," Callie said. "He's gone, but he's not forgotten."

"I'm sorry about your brother," Tammy said.

"Don't worry about it," Callie said.

Evan literally walked tall over the frozen zombies. He threw another one of his nitro glycerin bombs and froze a few more zombies. They even wondered what would happen if the tropical heat melted the ice. Would the zombies melt as well? Or would the ice thaw but they keep going? One could assume the former was more accurate as the frozen zombies shattered after the ice was broken.

The van was in their sights and Tammy was set to take the two clowns back to the safe house. Callie followed her while Evan was behind them. Evan unwittingly stepped on the sand and when he tried to walk, the sand tripped him and then he fell onto the pavement. Callie turned around and yelled her brother's name.

She ran to his aid and noticed he fell off of his stilts. Tammy turned around and kept her eyes peeled to see if any more zombies, or worse, mercenaries and gangsters were on the prowl.

The female clown helped her brother get up. Tammy turned her attention and noticed that Evan was a lot shorter than he appeared at first glance. In fact, he was a dwarf.

Evan slowly got up with Callie and Tammy helping him to his feet. He picked up his snow cannon and fired it towards a few zombies. The two ladies waited by the van. Evan faced towards the opposite direction and towards the boardwalk to see if any zombies were coming towards them.

"Evan, come on!" Callie yelled.

The dwarf clown ran towards them, but because the pant legs were a little long and covered his feet, he tripped and fell to the ground once again. Before he could get up, some zombies started to surround him and leaned toward him and started eating him alive.

"Callie! Callie! Help me!" he yelled.

"EVAN!" his sister yelled at the top of her lungs. Callie and Tammy tried to go help him, but it was too late. There were a lot of zombies surrounding him. A few zombies had flesh hanging from their mouths with blood dripping. Other zombies were seen chomping on disembodied arms and legs. The damage was done.

Tammy stood behind her and said, "Callie, get in the van right now. I'll take you somewhere safe."

Callie stood still and watched as what was left of her brother get mutilated and eaten. It took a bit before she could move and do what Tammy said.

Once she got into the vehicle, she looked down. Tammy looked toward her and saw that the clown makeup started to smear a bit, as a tear ran down her face. Why wouldn't she feel this way? She just watched her brother die right before her very eyes.

"Listen, I'm sorry what happened to your brother, but there was nothing we could do. So many zombies just grabbed him. We couldn't save him."

The female clown didn't say anything, except she nodded her head.

"Come on, I'll take you back to the safe house," Tammy said.

She felt for the clown right then and there. She almost lost Andy earlier, but she had just witnessed someone losing her own flesh and blood. Tammy didn't forget that they had another brother who died. To say that she was in pain would be an understatement. But something she didn't expect came out of the clown's mouth.

"Let me help you."

Confusion and shock rose on the redhead's face. "What?"

"Look, after losing two of my brothers in zombie outbreaks, with the oldest one dying at the hands of a journalist and just having witnessed my other brother dying right now, I need to cope."

Tammy replied, "If you need to cope, I think I should take you back to the safe house."

Callie angrily replied, "I'll cope how I want to fucking cope!"

A tingling sensation went through Tammy's chest and into her arms. The lady clown was no longer the happy-go-lucky entertainer that she presented herself as not long ago. Tammy took a deep breath.

"Okay, you can come along," the redhead said. "I'll watch your back."

The clown nodded her head, "Thank you for saving my life, by the way."

Tammy replied, "You're welcome. Again, I'm sorry about your brother."

While they sat in the van, Tammy reached for her smartphone and called Andy. While the phone rang, Callie noticed something lying right by the remains of her late brother's mutilated corpse.

The call went through, "Hey, baby. How are you feeling? Are you able to move? That's great; the medicine is working, but give it some time. Baby, listen, give it a few more hours. Because those two people said that it will take some time for your pain to go away. I know you want to help me but…"

While Tammy was on the phone, Callie reached for the door on the passenger side. She picked up her small chainsaw and exited the van. Tammy noticed this through the corner of her right eye and it wasn't long until she saw the female clown outside through the windshield.

"Andy, I will call you back. Listen, something just came up. Bye." Tammy had ended the call and followed Callie outside. Something was not right at that moment.

Callie approached the zombies that writhed around the fallen clown's body. She pulled the cord on the chainsaw and the motor started running. She swung the tool towards a few zombies, watching as their body parts get dismembered and blood started to spray around. The walking corpses fell to the ground. She did the one thing she wanted to do: pick up the snow cannon. She kicked Evan's body onto its back.

By that point, Tammy had gotten to her. She looked down and noticed the remains of Callie's brother. A weird feeling went to her stomach. She turned around and threw up at the sight of his mutilated corpse on the ground.

Callie put the snow cannon on her back and then wrapped the strap that had the nitro glycerin bombs around her chest.

"Okay, now let's get going," she said.

The shock on Tammy's face was on display. It was no secret why the clown went back outside, but even in her opinion, that was a weird thing for her to witness.

The two ladies went back into the van. Just then, Tammy's earpiece started ringing. "Hey, what's up?"

Paulson said, "Tammy, there's someone on Gulf Beach looking at the waves, like he is ready to surf."

_Who would even thinking about surfing at a time like this?_ She thought. "I'll go check it out."

Tammy started up the van. Callie faced her and asked what was going on.

"Seems that some people just don't care about the zombies," Tammy said with an annoyed tone.

The van then took off.

* * *

**GULF BEACH**

**11:41 AM**

It wasn't long until they had gotten to Gulf Beach. It had only been roughly 10-15 minutes since everything else had happened. Tammy and Callie had gotten out of the van and saw a man looking at the waves. It had started raining by that point, as seen with the humid weather in the tropical climate. The man looked on and was wearing a wetsuit and holding a surfboard.

The man stood there as the two women walked towards him.

"Excuse me, sir," Tammy said. "But what are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for the big waves to come," the man said. "I have been told that at around noon, the tide rises and then that's when I will make my move."

"I'd hate to tell you this, but there are zombies out here and there are people who are hunting other living people," Tammy said.

"You don't understand," the surfer said. "I had been wanting to experience big tidal waves out here in Florida and my next stop will be Hawaii. I can't miss this chance now."

"There are beaches in this state that you can surf at," Tammy said. "Come on, let's go."

"Just one wave, okay?" the surfer said.

"No, these guys will come after you," Tammy said. "Come on, you'll get your wave soon."

The surfer turned toward the two women as the rain dropped over them. It was odd that it had started raining when it was a little sunnier just a half hour prior.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind, ladies," the surfer said.

"What is your name, by the way?" Tammy said.

"Bodhi Utah," the surfer said.

"I'm Tammy."

"I'm Calamity Candy, but you can call me Callie," the clown said.

"I'll take you to a safe house," Tammy said. "Follow me."

As the trio approached the van, a ring buzzed in Tammy's ear once again. "Hello?"

"Tammy, I am wondering if you can go to Little Port Au-Prince," Paulson said. "Agent Simpson informed me that Torres and Park are out there and are under attack. I was wondering if you can try looking for them."

"I'll see what I can do," Tammy said.

The trio entered the van and Tammy immediately started it up. They were on their way.

**September 29th**

**11:47 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**24:12:36**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you probably wondering why there was no fight scene in this one with Evan. Here's why: There was no reason for Tammy to fight the clown, or clowns for that matter. In "Off The Record," Evan only fought Frank because he realized who he was and had heard that he killed Adam and wanted revenge.
> 
> Also, Callie remained alive because she appeared in "Operation Avarice," which takes place a year after Dead Rising 3, and is much later than the events of this story. Like I said, I recommend you check that out.
> 
> The surfer survivor is a reference to "Point Break," especially the ending scene. The name is also a reference to the main characters of the movie, played by Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze.


	26. Love Spurred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was initially going to jump into the bit with Ana and Brad looking for those other survivors, but this idea just hit me.

**September 29th**

**12:08 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:**

**23:51:47**

With barely less than 24 hours to go until the final decision for the fates of any survivors in the city, it was still undetermined on what will happen. But there were still survivors left in the city. If the military had made the decision in firebombing the city, it would be pointless to save anybody, but nothing had been decided yet.

Tammy drove the van with Callie riding shotgun, and Bodhi riding in the backseat with his surfboard set aside. She had received word from Agent Paulson that Ana and Brad were under attack. Tammy had set her GPS to head out to Little Port-Au Prince. But then something else came up.

Tammy's earpiece rang. She pushed the button to answer, "Hello?"

"Hello, Tammy," Paulson said. "Scratch that about Ana and Brad. They have some help with them already. Ana had told me that they have some support. But I also have to inform you that from a camera, I see a girl going inside a house with bags of groceries."

"What's your point?" Tammy wondered why she should be concerned about something like that, as in a situation like this, food is a necessity. "Why does seem odd to you?"

Paulson responded, "She looks like she is dressed like some celebrity, kind of like the singer Wendy, or at least how she used to dress when she first started out. I don't know if you heard about this, but Wendy was actually here in the city sometime recently for a signing, as she had released her autobiography and latest album. After the outbreak started, it was said that she had gone missing. Also, the girl looked like she was walking to the house like it was any other day, despite all of the hazards going on."

It started to make sense now. Tammy used to listen to Wendy during her teen years. Even when it was at the point when pop music was no longer "cool," she remained a fan. Wendy had also gone through problems and this was the first album she released in about four years, so it was a comeback for her of sorts.

Regarding who was seen on the monitor, this seemed odd, as someone was dressed like how the singer used to dress earlier in her career. It couldn't just be skimpy clothing, there had to be a wig or something. Also, it would seem suspicious for the girl to be dressed a certain way at a time like this. With there being less than 24 hours before there would be any rescue, as optimistic as Tammy was that there would be one, she had to see if she could save this girl. It would also be a good idea to find more living people anyway, as many had been murdered by the gangsters and mercenaries.

"I'm on my way, tell me where she is," Tammy said.

Paulson added, "She is actually in Little Port-Au-Prince. A little far from where everyone else is, but she is there. I see the address on the screen. It is 8170 Raccoon Way. The number on the door reads 2A."

Tammy was already in the area. After hearing him say the address, she set the address to the GPS and was on her way. Fortunately, it was only a few blocks away.

"What's going on?" Callie was in the front passenger seat.

"I need to see something."

Bodhi, the surfer, leaned forward. "Hey, do you think I can help you?"

Tammy replied, "I don't know. Can you handle yourself against zombies?"

"I wouldn't have made it to the sand if I couldn't, lady," Bodhi said. "I had taken out a few zombies while I was out there."

Tammy nodded her head. She drove a few blocks to get to that person's house. It was only a block away from a liquor store. If anything, it was lucky for that girl to live near a store where she could get more food.

It wasn't long until Tammy pulled up. She parked the car and got out with her weapon. Callie and Bodhi followed her. The clown was well-armed, but she handed the small chainsaw to the surfer, as he didn't have any weapons to use and he sure didn't want to use his surfboard as a weapon.

The three approached the door to the residence. This felt like an awkward experience. Why were they going into a residence? It just seemed off. The idea of it just seemed like a home invasion waiting to happen, but to the agent who was monitoring the activity across the city, the woman just seemed odd to him. It was even odd catching two scantily-clad women standing outside the strip club a few nights before.

Tammy said, "Hello?" She felt weird doing this, but she had to see what was up. Besides, who knew if any mercenaries and/or gangsters would resort to home invasion? That would mean that she would have to check on the other homes. Not that she would want to see other inhabitants get murdered, far from it, but this particular home had something suspicious about it.

The trio had walked into the house. The house appeared messy. All of a sudden, a sound of a voice was heard.

"Hello, is there anybody here?" Tammy said. "I thought I heard something. I'm just checking the place."

Footsteps were heard at a slow rate. "Who is there?" said the sound of a female voice. "Who are you?"

"We're just checking to see if anything is okay," Tammy said.

From the sight of the trio walked a blonde girl wearing a pink bikini top and black pants. The blonde hair look like a dye job, too. The girl had a baseball bat in her hand.

"Who are you?" the blonde said. "I don't know you."

She looked at Tammy, Callie, and Bodhi with a cold scowl.

"Somebody told me about some suspicious behavior and I just want see what was going on," Tammy said. "We'll be out of here in a bit."

The girl didn't want to listen. She went forth and swung her bat towards Tammy. She rushed and swung it, but Tammy quickly dodged the attack. The blonde didn't even bother to try attacking the clown and the surfer who were with her. The focus was placed on Tammy. The question was why, especially when the blonde was outnumbered, and the fact that Tammy had a weapon with a blade on it.

The blonde had swung the bat another time and caused Tammy to drop her weapon, as well as drop to the ground. It didn't stop the girl from swinging the bat towards her.

"Should we help her?" Bodhi said and tried to brandish the small chainsaw, but Callie shook her head. After seeing her brother get killed not long before, she had to keep her head together and even a situation like this would be much to use the chainsaw. She came up with an idea of her own, though.

"I saw some people out there killing others," the blonde said. "I won't let you kill Wendy!"

"Huh?" Tammy yelled while on the ground. She turned body on to her back and saw the scantily-clad blonde brandishing the bat ready to hit her once again. But the suddenly, she felt a coldness in her legs and couldn't move. She looked down and noticed some ice around her legs. Tammy looked over and saw that Callie had the snow cannon in her hands and then smiled at her. Tammy looked over and smiled nervously at her.

With the blonde frozen, this opened a window for her to get to her feet and then check out the rest of the home. She went towards the bedrooms and something really caught her eye. Through the doorway, she noticed something strange: a wall with posters of Wendy throughout her career, as well as posters of singer Bibi Love, and then on a chair near a bed was a blonde woman with her hands tied behind her back and feet tied together, but oddly enough, she wasn't gagged or blindfolded. It wasn't just any blonde woman. She was dressed in casual dress clothes but the face matched what was shown on the posters, as well as a cardboard cutout that the girl had, which promoted Wendy's second album, "Love Spur."

Tammy looked toward the woman who was tied up. She recognized her. "Wait, aren't you…? I'll get you out of here."

The woman in the chair signaled to Tammy to look behind her. She turned around and saw the girl with the bat, as she had broken free from the ice. She swung it but then Callie and Bodhi followed her. Callie froze her once again. Tammy quickly grabbed the bat from the girl's hand.

"Go ahead, do what you came to do," the blonde girl said.

The woman in the chair spoke up, "Excuse me, but I think there is a misunderstanding here."

"Wait, what?" Tammy said and turned towards her.

"To answer your question from before, yes, I am Wendy, the singer. But despite what it looks like, I am afraid you made a mistake. She is not trying to hurt me."

Confusion rolled in Tammy's head at that point. "What's going on here?" She turned towards the frozen girl.

The frozen girl said, "If you unfreeze me, I'll explain everything."

Tammy swung the bat towards the ice on her legs to break it, literally and figuratively.

"Okay, I'll explain," the girl said. "My name is Natalie. I am a huge fan of Wendy and while I know this looks suspicious, I am trying to protect her from the zombies and bad people out there."

Tammy couldn't believe what she heard.

"It's true," Wendy said. "I know this looks bad, but hear me out. I was here on Thursday for a book signing and also to sign copies of my latest album. Natalie came to the signing dressed…how I used to dress earlier in my career and told me how much of a big fan of mine she was. My bodyguards kicked her out for some reason. Then the zombies came and killed my bodyguards. Lucky for me, Natalie was close and saved me from the zombies. I thought she was crazy at first, but then I saw that she really tried to protect me. She even fed me if I got hungry."

"I didn't want to hurt her," Natalie said. "Why would I do that if I was a fan?"

It started to make sense, but Tammy questioned why she was tied up.

"I tried to get out of here at first, as I thought this girl was going to do something to me," Wendy said. "But Natalie didn't really trust anybody or anything."

"I was scared that she would go out there and get eaten alive," Natalie said. "Or become a zombie." She looked over at Callie and Bodhi. "And who are these two people?"

Tammy replied, "I found them near the Palm Tree Beach boardwalk. They're my backup right now. How about I take you two somewhere safer? There should be a rescue tomorrow."

"How do I know I could trust you?" Natalie had suspicion about Tammy and the others, especially since they just invaded her home.

"My boyfriend and I barely managed to get out of Club Tropicana alive a few nights ago," Tammy said. "We have been helping people get to safety, as well as trying to find out what is going on out there. My boyfriend was targeted, too. We're trying to take down the people who started all of this shit."

"You know, if that's the case, I can help you," Natalie said, and then found a T-shirt from a Wendy concert that she attended years prior and put it on. It had a list of cities that she toured. "I had taken out a few zombies myself."

She then reached over and untied Wendy from the chair. Wendy then spoke, "I'll help you, too."

"What? Are you sure?" Tammy said.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I owe a lot to Natalie for keeping me safe," Wendy said. "And I also owe you for finding us."

"Thanks, and I also will tell you that I also used to listen to your music when I was in high school," Tammy said. "Maybe you can give me and my boyfriend tickets to a show or something."

"If we get out of here alive, I'll give you and your boyfriend backstage passes, as well as Natalie here," Wendy said.

Tammy wasn't sure which was crazier: the fact that a celebrity wanted to help her or that the celeb was going through Stockholm syndrome at that point. In either case, both of them were ready to leave, as well as provide backup.

All five people exited the apartment, but out of the corner of Tammy's right eye were legs moving and then turned her attention to her right and saw a Caucasian man holding on for dear life. The man was gripping onto a railing above.

Tammy yelled, "Wait, mister! I'll find something!"

"Hurry up!" the man said.

If only the same thing wasn't happening across the apartment complex. An African-American man was hanging from a railing as well.

_What's with these two guys?_ Tammy thought. She had noticed that zombies were crowded on the platform on the floors above. One could guess that these two men tried to jump the railing, only to see that it was quite a drop below. She had to think fast. She looked around and then noticed a gigantic stuffed blue rabbit nearby.

_What the hell is THAT doing here?_ She also noticed a giant stuffed pink elephant. No time to wonder why they were there. She came up with a plan. She picked up the rabbit. Callie picked up the elephant and then sped to get to the other man. Both women set the giant stuffed animals to the ground and then both men released their grips to drop and land on the stuffed animals. The moment they landed, they were relieved. Callie led the black man back to the rest of the group.

"Wow, am I glad that you saved me," the black man said to the female clown. "I'm Earvin, by the way."

"I'm Callie," the clown said.

Tammy approached the white man. "Are you okay, mister?"

"I'm fine," the white man said. "It's better than being up there with all of the zombies. Thanks for all of that, young lady. I'm Marc, by the way."

"I'm Tammy," she said. "You know, I know a safer place I can take you."

Earvin jumped in. "That's great, young lady, but Marc and I owe you and this other young lady." He referred to Callie. "We'll help you out."

Tammy had a lot of people with her already. As much as she wanted to keep a lot of them out of harms way, it would be better if she had support with her. She was in an area that was far from the island where the safe house was. It would be quite a drive to get everyone back. She remembered that she check on Ana, who was in the same area. With the undead number growing, she needed all the help she can have.

"All right, I have to go meet with someone," Tammy said. "All of you follow me."

Marc and Earvin picked up a tire iron and a sledgehammer respectively. Wendy had taken the baseball bat that Natalie gave her, while she had taken a metal bat that she already had.

"Wait, if we're going to go deal with zombies, I have to give you all something," Tammy said and looked to Natalie. "Hey, do you have a blender?"

"Why?" the obsessed fan said.

"You'll see," Tammy said.

They all went back into Natalie's apartment. Tammy looked for the right food to use. She mixed some food and put them in the cup and then blended them together. They came out mixed into that same red liquid from before. She served the other six people and they all drank it, as did she. She then came up with another plan. She remembered seeing another mixed drink on that same blog that could be useful in this kind of situation, even though she may draw danger on her, but better her than them. She found some other food and mixed them and then it came out to a pink liquid.

"Hey, Natalie, do you have a water bottle?" Tammy asked.

Without question, Natalie went and found a water bottle with a strap and gladly gave it to her. Tammy poured the pink liquid into the bottle.

"What was that stuff that we drank?" Natalie said.

"It's supposed to keep the zombies from grabbing you," Tammy said. "Don't ask me how it works, it just does."

"What does that pink stuff do?" Wendy asked.

"It's supposed to draw zombies on whoever drinks it," Tammy said.

"What?" Wendy said, and everyone looked at their leader with confusion.

"Don't worry, I said that it will only go after to the person who drinks it," Tammy said. "I can handle myself. If they go after me, they won't go after you. Well, unless any of you drink it."

They all shook their head with a clear expression that they didn't want to consume that liquid.

"Okay, let's go now," Tammy said. Everyone was on their way now.

* * *

**MEANWHILE, AT THE SAFE HOUSE**

**12:45 PM**

Andy did nothing but stay behind and watch TV. He lied there and saw it on the TV. He had the news on and another report came on.

_Recent reports on the Palm Tree City Outbreak have stated that there may be 70 percent chance of the firebombing to occur. There still hasn't been any evidence of any survivors in the city._

Andy got his body up, in less pain than before. Suddenly, he realized that the pain in his lower back has eased, if was gone. Relieved of the pain, he had to see if the pain in his left leg was gone. He got to his feet and started to move better than before. That stuff that Ogoun and Madame Poulet gave him worked like a charm. He wasn't sure if he was at 100 percent, but he could move better than before and was in much less pain.

_I can't take this anymore._ He thought. _Tammy, I'm coming for you, baby!_

He put on the jeans that were in that bag that Ana took the night before, along with the rest of his clothes. He also put on that Mega Man X T-shirt and that TIR jacket that he had. As much as his lady wanted him to rest, with the report stating about the possible firebombing, he was not going to let anything bad happen to Tammy or Ana. He was ready to get back out there.

He also picked up the earpiece and his cellphone and then left the bedroom.

He walked downstairs and saw some people walking around. He went up to Gary and Rhonda.

"Hey, I am going out there to find Tammy and Ana," he said. "Are you two down to help?"

Rhonda nodded her head, "Absolutely, sugar. Gary and I will help you."

"Oye, papi," a woman said. Andy turned his attention and it turned out to be Deidre. "I will help you."

Others like Cora, Nina, and Summer, as well as Tomomi, Gregory, and Marcus offered to help, but Andy declined. He didn't want need to have that many people helping him. Before he and the other three could leave, Agent Simpson approached him.

"Where are you going? Your girlfriend said that you should rest," Simpson said.

"I'm much better now," Andy said. "I am going to get them all back here. By the news said that the chances of the firebombing are rising. I am sure that there is someone here that can prove that there are living people and maybe we can get out of here sooner."

Then it hit Simpson. He knew that there was one person at the safe house who can provide evidence of the survivors. That person was Paul. He had to get through to him somehow.

"Okay, you go on ahead, bring them back, okay?" Simpson said. Andy nodded and he was on his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following chapter has Ana and Brad doing their thing for sure this time. It was like how chapter 19 picked up after chapter 17.
> 
> Regarding the character of Wendy, she was seen in a cardboard cutout in Dead Rising 1 and 2. The cardboard cutout was seen in stores like Robsaka Digital and Players in the first game and in the second game. I decided that I wanted to make her a character. Plus, she struck me as Dead Rising's answer to Britney Spears (Or any of those female solo pop acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s), I wrote her as someone who had been on hiatus from her career before making a comeback, like how Britney did in the mid-2000s. Also, the title of this chapter was a reference to the album title on the cardboard cutout. The album title was "Love Spur."
> 
> Also, the character of Natalie was originally going to be a psychopath, but then I thought that it would have been better if she was just a fan who had no intention of harming the singer. She may have been obsessed, but she wasn't some insane stalker-like fan.
> 
> I also must note that I had debated of putting in Marc and Earvin from Off The Record for a while. Yes, I know that I put in the other OTR exclusive characters like Tomomi, Deidre, Eric, and also Evan. So now they were added in.


	27. War Zone (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ana and Brad go and scope out Little Port-Au-Prince for the eradication of survivors. Things seem to be getting worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This picks up where chapter 24 left off with Ana and Brad.

**September 29th**

**11:30 AM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES OR POSSIBLE FIREBOMBING:**

**24:29:47**

It has only been more than a half hour since everyone had left the safe house, at least those who were involved in this mission. With many civilians dying in the city, as well as the virus spreading with Phenotrans operatives and gangsters tossing canisters of the queens in various areas, this could lead to the bottom of everything that has happened.

Ana and Brad took the reigns of this mission, as Ana wanted to bring down Mendoza and his regime, and that includes the Caribbean Boyz, as well as Phenotrans. Brad wanted to bring down the shady pharmaceutical company as well as the real masterminds behind everything. One was his ex-partner, who left him to die. The other was the wanted drug lord.

Both of the federal agents, most of all, also wanted to bring down the person heading the operation, Robert Walters. He had as much involvement as the other scumbags in this whole outbreak.

Though in various cases, interagency partnerships usually weren't allowed, unless the agencies agreed to it, but Simpson allowed it. Brad spoke to his superior at some point and he had okayed it as long as he wouldn't let his personal feelings towards Simon Gates cloud his judgment.

The two feds were set to look for a couple of survivors who managed to fight back against the hunters. With those people hunting down any living person, the two people that were seen on camera managed to put up a fight, but how long could they last? Do they have enough firepower to survive against them? The two federal agents weren't going alone as they had some support with them. But will they last, too?

They had made their arrival to Little Port-Au-Prince. It seemed like another run-down or poorer neighborhood in PTC. It wasn't much different from Little Santiago, except that city had more of a community consisting of Cubans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans, as well as others. Little Port-Au-Prince was mostly a Haitian community, though other Afro-Caribbean groups like Jamaicans, Trinidadians, and others resided there, too.

The people on the feed looked Caucasian, but that was not important. It was possible that there were other inhabitants of the neighborhood that hadn't turned, been killed by zombies, or even killed by any of the murderers in the vicinity.

Ana and Brad walked around the neighborhood. It looked run down, like a wasteland of some sort. Not because of the outbreak, but because there had been talk of the Caribbean Boyz and some Mendoza's goons and assassins murdering a bunch of people in that neighborhood sometime before the apocalypse.

Ana looked around and saw a male corpse on the ground. "Brad, come here!"

Brad turned around and saw that Ana knelt before the dead body. "What's going on?"

"This man doesn't look like he has been dead for long."

They both took a closer look. The person's flesh still looked a little fresh and then noticed some bullet wounds on the corpse's chest. It was likely that the person had been gunned down not long ago. How long was the question but both people suspected like it could have been minutes within the past hour.

Brad then looked to his left. Right before his very eyes was a group of zombies kneeling and crowding around something, presumably a dead body. How the person died was anybody's guess. He walked towards the zombies. Ana looked up to her left in the same direction where Brad walked. Her eyes widened a tad. If he gets closers, the zombies will sense some fresh meat and turned their attentions towards him. What was she going to do?

She ran towards Brad. He wasn't far from her. Who even knew if he had enough ammo to take out all of the zombies? She looked up and saw a queen bee flying around. She clapped of her hands together to cause the insect to fall to the ground.

Brad got closer to the zombies. Suddenly, one zombie got up and turned around. Then another zombie, and another, and another, and another. Many zombies started to slowly walk towards him. He wasn't about to go down. He may have been infected, but it wasn't time for him to die yet or even add more to the virus, which would likely cause him to completely turn, no questions asked.

Ana stood there with her right foot close to the downed wasp. Brad was ready to draw his weapon, but as the number of zombies increased, they were all hungry for the live human being.

"Brad, get over here!" Brad turned around and ran towards her. Ana quickly stomped on the wasp, causing all of them to convulse and some their heads to explode and collapse on the impact from killing the insect. Some of them had larvae come out of their bodies.

"Thank you, Ana," Brad said.

"No problem," she said. "Why were you over there?"

"I saw the zombies crowding on something," he said. "Or somebody."

Now that the area was clear from all of those zombies, the duo went up to the cadaver on the ground.

"Oh, gross!" Ana yelled and gagged and then turned around to vomit.

The body was mutilated from all the zombies biting the flesh. The face had been eaten, as were other parts of the body. Strangely enough, Brad to look at it and put on some gloves to look at it.

"Hey, Ana, it looks like this person was already dead before the zombies got to her." Brad had figured that the body was of a woman. Even with a lot of the flesh ripped off, there were holes that had to have been bullet wounds.

No one was safe anymore. It was only a matter of time until they were next to be murdered.

Unbeknownst to them, a couple of men with high-powered weapons walked towards from the distance. One wielded an automatic shotgun. The other had an assault rifle. Ana's and Brad's backs were towards the two gun-wielding men. They were both dressed in black and looked professional.

While Brad looked at the body, he looked up in front of him and saw a couple of gang members with an Uzi and a Mac-10. They looked like they could have been a couple of members of the Caribbean Boyz.

Ana then looked up in the opposite direction and saw the other two men. Oh shit. She thought.

Both of them were armed with firearms, particularly pistols. Those types of guns would only get them so far. In that case, they were both screwed and were next on the line of any civilians to get gunned down. But they weren't about to go down without a fight. Ana faced the direction of the two assassins, while Brad faced the direction of the gang members. They drew their guns and pointed directly at them. The assassins and the gang members quickly drew their weapons, ready to end the lives of the two agents.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Through the eyes of the two agents, one mercenary and one gang member were shot to their deaths, and the partners of each party jumped at the shock of their cohorts getting gunned down. In the midst of the shock, the other mercenary and the other gang member drew the weapons to try to kill Ana and Brad. Ana squeezed the trigger at a moment's notice when the gangster brandished his Mac-10. Brad wasted little time when the Phenotrans operative tried to blast him with the shotgun and it took three shots to take him down. If the mercenary had shot Brad, some of that slug could have landed on Ana as well.

Ana and Brad looked up and saw the three snipers on top of a building, who came for their support. Sheryl, Erin, and Maria waved at them. Ana heard a ring on a walkie-talkie that she had. She had it set on the frequency that Sheryl gave her.

"Hey, we got your backs from up here," Sheryl said.

"Thank you," Ana said. "If you see any more of them, shoot them."

"We will," Erin said.

"Don't worry about us," Maria said.

Ana switched the frequency to radio Paulson. "Hey, you got anything else? Do you see anybody else on the feed?"

Paulson responded, "I see those same two people that you're looking for. They're still running from any hunters in the area, as well as taking out zombies."

"Where are they?" Ana said.

"They're just a couple of blocks east from you," Paulson said. "You better hurry. They don't have a lot of time."

"Got it," she said and then hung up.

"What did he say?" Brad asked.

"Those two survivors are only a couple of blocks away from us, eastbound from here," Ana said. "We better find them."

First things first, though. Ana saw that the two mercenaries had dropped their weapons. She remembered that combo weapon that she had made before. Inside the pocket of her jacket, she had a roll of duct tape with her. She picked up the assault rifle and the shotgun and taped them together. She also picked up the packs of shells and extra magazines in case she needed to reload.

"You sure that thing is reliable?" Brad said.

"It helped me last night," Ana said. "Let's get going.

The snipers were at different vantage points. Plus, the scopes could zoom in at far distances. So they were able to provide support no matter what. The snipers could gun down any other hunter that would get in their way. Plus, there was a sign that there are and/or were a few other survivors in the vicinity. With the death toll increasing, whether it's the number of people turning or people dying, whether at the hands of zombies or any of the hunters, it's likely that they won't make it, unless something can be done about it.

It only took about 10 minutes for the duo to find where they could be, or so they hoped. More walking cadavers went their way. Ana didn't have to worry as she had her weapon. Brad, on the other hand, noticed a few zombies that appeared to be cops before they turned. Some were holding pistols in their hands. Another held a nightstick. Strangely enough, one of the zombies that were holding the 9mm pistol raised his arm and then pulled the trigger upward. If he had pointed it Brad or Ana, they were screwed.

Brad quickly pointed towards the zombie and sprayed a few bullets to his chest. It wasn't enough to take him out, so he aimed for the dome and squeezed the trigger. The zombie dropped down quickly after that.

A zombie that was a female cop held a shotgun. If that zombie were to fire that weapon, no doubt that he would not make it. He ran out of her sight and shot the female zombie in her cranium. Right when the zombie dropped, Brad picked up the shotgun. He also picked up the nightstick from the other zombie who he had just killed.

An unarmed zombie tried to grab him after he picked up the nightstick, but he quickly reacted and whacked the zombie in the head so hard that blood and brain matter had flown from his head. The weather was already warm, so the heat was probably a factor in its decomposition, as the flesh looked rather decayed. The zombie probably had lasted a few days up to that point.

Ana kept a few zombies at bay with her combo weapon. She alternated between the shotgun and assault rifle a few times.

Suddenly, the sound of a woman's voice came from somewhere.

"Wait, I think I heard something," Ana said to Brad.

Then a man's voice came to their ears. Brad pinpointed where it could be coming from. It was in a Colombian Roastmasters coffee shop that was right front of them. The door was open for some reason. Brad and Ana walked closer and the voices got clearer and even clearer when they walked inside the coffee shop.

"Damn, more gunshots," a woman said. "I can't take it anymore."

"Relax," a man said.

The voices sounded like they come from behind the counter.

"Excuse me," Ana said.

At that moment, a gun-toting woman and a gun-toting man jumped up with their weapons drawn and pointed them right at Ana and Brad. The woman had short auburn hair and was wearing a button-down shirt with the bottom tied a bit and jeans. The man appeared to be muscular and had a shaved head and wore a US Army shirt and wore dark jeans. The woman was carrying an MP5. The man was wielding an assault rifle with a grenade launcher.

"Who the fuck are you?" the woman said. "You don't look like those assholes who are trying to kill us."

Ana and Brad put down their weapons.

"I am an FBI agent," Ana said.

"I am a ZDC agent," Brad said. "We had gotten word that you two were under attack."

"Show us your badges," the man said. "We don't trust a lot of people that easily. How do we know you two aren't a part of the same team out there?"

The two agents had flashed their badges.

"We don't want any trouble," Ana said. "We just want to get you to safety."

The man and the woman looked at each other and mouthed words to each other.

"Okay, my wife and I will come with you," the man said. "I'm Jonathan, by the way."

"I'm Alyssa," the woman said. "We had survived the Willamette outbreak seven years ago."

It had occurred to the two that they had come across some survivors of the Willamette Incident earlier. It wasn't known what had happened to some survivors of Willamette, but after encountering a couple from earlier and another couple now, it's safe to say that a lot of them got out safely.

"We survived Willamette with our friend Brett," Jonathan said. "He's a good soldier and leader, and a good man, too."

"That's great," Ana said. "But can you tell me what's going on here?"

Alyssa added, "My husband and I had noticed that a lot of survivors were getting killed out there. Some of them were surprised that we started fighting back against gang members and these guys dressed in dark clothing. There were even guys in suits and nice clothing like collared shirts and khakis."

Jonathan and Alyssa had also noted that they saw some strange-looking machines set up in the middle of the street in some areas. Some of the guys were also heavily armored, but from what it also seemed, they wielded some type of weapon, but neither of them could identify what they were firing.

It then occurred to Ana about those strange-looking machines. She had seen those machines when she was out by the swamp a few days prior. She was told by Professor Logan that those machines are used to harvest the queens. She had come across a lot of queens, particularly some to kill a large zombie horde.

"We have to stop those guys now," Ana said. "But we need to also find who is responsible for all of these murders." She looked to the couple. "You can help us on this. You seem to have seen a lot the stuff out there."

"Sure thing," Alyssa said. "What are your names?"

"I am Agent Ana Torres."

"I am Agent Brad Park."

Jonathan said. "My wife and I will watch your backs."

Alyssa and Jonathan followed the two feds. Ana and Brad were now on a mission to find out who was in charge in this operation. She knew that the person who was heading the operation was Walters, but something told her that someone was heading the operation in the eradication of innocent survivors. Now that it had been brought to her attention about harvesting queens, it had gotten even worse.

The quartet was on their way to search for the rest of the hunters and the person who headed this operation. Ana remembered that guy Tyler who she saw at the camp by the swamp, who then went out to PTC. She speculated that when he killed that one woman and her husband that it could have been connected with the cleanup of the survivors. It's not implausible in any way.

But it couldn't be him who was heading the cleanup and harvesting operation. Ana was the one who killed him after that brutal battle with him. It sure couldn't be any of those three assassins that were at the convention that Andy and Tammy were at. She had heard what happened to them. It's no secret that someone else was heading it, but what she wondered was who is it.

The four of them walked around. Many zombies started to come towards them, but Alyssa drew her MP5 and sprayed a few rounds into a few of them.

But suddenly, more Phenotrans operatives, gang members, as well as Mendoza's goons started to come out once again. The quartet was outnumbered, but Ana had blasted one Phenotrans mercenary in the chest with the shotgun portion of her weapon.

The others were about to open fire, until they met the fateful end of 7.62x63mm rounds from above. Some of the mercenaries even went down as the rounds had hit their ballistics vests, but not enough to take them out. One of them barely breathed as he lied on the ground.

Ana and Brad approached the armored assassins. One of them had a gun in his hands. Ana walked a little closer and then a weird sound emitted and what looked like a sound wave. When the wave hit her, she was caught in a daze and stepped backward in that state.

Brad looked over at her. "Hey, Torres, are you okay?"

The gun-toting couple turned around and saw that Ana was a bit dizzy. The downed mercenary aimed that odd-looking gun to Ana, but Brad quickly ran and raised his foot to kick to gun out of the guy's hands.

Ana walked around in that confused state and then hit the wall of a building. She then vomited. Jonathan and Alyssa went up to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jonathan said.

"I'll be fine," Ana said. "What the hell kind of gun was that?"

The other downed mercenary, however, had a different type of gun. He aimed his assault rifle at Brad, who was holding the other mercenary at gunpoint. Ana saw that weird-looking gun, and quickly ran to pick it up as the other guy was getting ready to open fire. She picked up the gun, which had light blue shading to it. From that distance, she noticed that the guy was ready to fire and then ran and pulled the trigger and it sent the sound wave towards him, causing to get dizzy and then drop the weapon.

Ana, with Jonathan and Alyssa behind her, walked up to the other mercenary that Brad held down.

"Okay, asshole, I'm only asking you this once," Ana said. "What is going on here? We all got word that you people are trying to eliminate any survivor out in the city. I also got word about you people trying to spread the virus in other parts of the city. What is Walters's plan? Why are you working with Mendoza?"

"I'm just following orders, lady," said the mercenary.

Realizing that this guy won't talk, she drew her pistol and aimed it towards him. She let out a gunshot that was right close to his head.

"Answer me, or the next one won't miss," Ana said.

The mercenary looked up at her. "Okay, okay. Mr. Walters is having us set up these machines to harvest some more queens. Mr. Walters told us to eliminate any witnesses or survivors because Mr. Mendoza wants to get rid of all traces of human life, so that nobody will come after him after it had been reported that he came back to the country. That's all I know. The real person who knows more than I do is Agent S."

What came out of his mouth was another name that hadn't been heard before.

"Okay, who is Agent S? What's his deal?" Brad said.

"Who said that Agent S is a 'he'?" the mercenary said. "She is one of Walters's main operatives. After his other main guy was killed, Agent S had taken over his duties. You fuck with her, you're as good as dead."

"Thank you for all this," Ana said, who then turned around and they all walked away.

But that didn't stop the two mercenaries from getting and drawing the other weapons that they had. As they were walking off, they drew their guns, but then zombies came up behind them and then bit them so hard. More of them started to surround them and eat them alive.

After some time, the four continued to walk around to search for things. Alyssa and Jonathan continued to be of some protection to them. Alyssa even had a knife on her in case a zombie was to get up close and personal. Jonathan also had a knife on him. Their extra support took their car and followed wherever they went. They set up vantage points in other areas in case anything else was to happen.

Ana and Brad walked alongside a wall and then around the corner to their left, Ana saw a crowd of people and a truck. From what it appeared, another harvester was being set up. Standing over some of the Phenotrans mercenaries and other members of the staff, as well as gang members appeared to be a woman with short auburn hair and a leather cat suit.

"What the hell?" Ana said.

"What? Did you see something?" Brad said.

"Yes, but we need to get closer to them," Ana said.

She looked for a way to get closer to avoid being seen. She told Jonathan and Alyssa to guard the area. The more numbers she had, the better chance that they wouldn't get out of there alive.

She found an alley that separated one line of residential homes and another line of houses. Brad looked around to find any openings to go through, only to see that the truck was at an intersection. Ana went through the backyard of a home. It didn't appear that anybody was home at that moment, so she went forth to hide beside the garage near the front entrance. She got out her phone and set it to the camera and started recording.

She looked towards the short-haired woman in the leather cat suit. That must be Agent S. She thought.

The woman stood and said to the men, "Okay, guys. That's good. We need to find other areas to set up the harvesters and also to find that Number 40 girl. Walters doesn't want any fuckups before get out of here. Time is running out before this whole city is bombed and we don't go with the rest of our plan."

A look of shock and confusion rose on Ana's face, as she heard the comment about the possible firebombing. Maybe that could be why they were also trying to take out a lot of innocent people.

It was very possible, if very likely, that many people were being killed so that the military would be cleared to firebomb the city. It didn't matter about the survivors at the safe house. For all she knew, there could be someone pulling all the strings to make sure that everything goes according to their plan.

Simon, on the other hand, had knowledge of the survivors at the safe house. Even if they don't eliminate any other living civilians, they would still die if they end up in the firebombing. If any reinforcements were to come and search the area, they could try finding some and taking them to safety, but something must be telling the government and the media that there are little-to-no survivors. Why else is the chance of the firebombing much better than a rescue happening?

In the same area, a familiar face walked out of the truck. He looked young and was wearing a Phenotrans jacket, when before that same guy was wearing a ZDC jacket. It could only be one guy.

_That asshole._ She saw Simon standing there with Agent S and tried to order the other people around. Then Ana saw another familiar face. The same man whom she had encountered before a few days prior. It was Ricardo, the leader of the Caribbean Boyz. It looked like they were finishing with setting up.

Agent S said, "Okay, that's good. You guys know what else to do." She looked towards the Caribbean Boyz. "As for you guys, be on the lookout for that one guy and his girlfriend, or even this girl." She showed them what looked like the mugshot of Maria. "They want her alive."

Simon then thought of something and then leaned towards Agent S's ear to say something.

"I also got word that if you catch this man," she showed a picture of Brad. "Catch him. From what I understand he is infected. He can be the cause for the next outbreak."

It became apparent that their plan was far from done. If they were to get their hands on Maria, they would infect her and go for the original plan involving these orphan time bombs across the country. With Brad already being infected, they could let the virus take over his body and then turn and then cause another outbreak. She also knew that the price on Andy and Tammy was still on. Something had to be done.

Simon then jumped from the truck and then approached Ricardo.

"Hey, if you see that girl Tammy," Simon said. "Just kill her. I want to let that fucker know that I am not fucking around here."

"And what if I see the guy?" Ricardo said.

"Take him out, too," Simon said. "Your boy didn't get the job done earlier. Now the money goes to you." Simon pointed. "Don't mess this up!"

Ricardo looked at Simon like he was crazy. Though their relationship was purely business, he suspected that something was wrong with this guy. He saw it with his own eyes when he wailed on that poor guy. Sure, Ricardo had done some shady things himself, such as killing people, but it looked like Simon enjoyed hurting that guy.

She went through the gate to the backyard and jumped the fence to get to the alley and went to meet up with Brad.

"Brad, I have some bad news," Ana said. "They have another outbreak planned after this. They know that you have been infected with the virus and that if they don't get Maria, you might be the person to cause it."

"Fuck," Brad said. "We need to find where they were going."

"I'll figure out a way," Ana said. "We have to get all the survivors out of here soon. They said that they might bomb the place."

Then another thought hit her. "I need to contact Bruce right now. He has to get that guy Paul to show his evidence of the survivors. It seems that the bombing will occur at noon tomorrow. We need to get everyone out of here before that happens."

* * *

**A FEW BLOCKS AWAY IN LITTLE PORT-AU-PRINCE**

**12:58 PM**

Tammy and her crew had walked around to search for any shady activity. Within the past hour, she had formed her own personal army, ranging from a female clown who watched her brother tragically die before her very eyes, to a female pop star that was in town for a signing and was kept safe by a loyal fan.

Though she wanted to stay back to take care of Andy at the safe house, she had as much right to find the person who wanted him dead as her boyfriend did. She was not going to that sitting down. With many civilian casualties having occurred, she wanted to find out who was behind everything, too.

Everybody was well armed with melee weapons. Some of them even picked up a few firearms in the process.

All seven people walked in formation to look for Ana and Brad. But from a distance, a few zombies came walking towards them. The effects from the drink were still going strong, at least for now. Tammy may have brought the drink that would cause her to be bait to the zombies, but she knew that she would need more of the other drink just in case. So she made some more of it and put it in another water bottle that Natalie had.

All members of her posse had shown some prowess in combating against the undead. With the prevalence of zombies in this day and age, especially after the major outbreaks in Willamette and Fortune City, as well as others in small towns like Still Creek and Coyote Springs, many people had to learn how to survive somehow and some way.

Tammy looked around and saw some bodies laid out on the streets. Some of them appeared to have been eaten by zombies, others looked like they were murdered by people, and some other zombies were the dead bodies of the undead.

Callie and Wendy, the two entertainers, looked around and saw a machine of some sort in the middle of the road.

"Um, Tammy, I think I found something," Callie said.

Tammy turned around, with the three guys behind her. She saw the machine.

"Oh no," she said.

"What is that?" Marc said.

Tammy filled everyone in on the machine. When she and Andy were with Ana, Simpson, and the scientist, there were pictures shown of these types of machines. It appeared that initially, Phenotrans was harvesting the queens out in the swamp, until they moved everything out into the city.

A strange green gas was coming out of the machine. When some zombies ingested the gas, they started acting a bit more aggressively, even more than when night falls.

But it didn't matter to them. They weren't about to go down without fighting back at least. Every one of them drew their weapons and was ready to battle in case they were their next target. Some of the more aggressive zombies went towards the group of 7. Tammy drew her weapon and yelled out a battle cry and went forth and impaled a zombie right in the chest and then quickly pulled it out and swung the weapon with the machete at the end and beheaded the zombie.

Callie saw multiple zombies coming towards her, Wendy, and Natalie. What was she about to about then? She reached for a bomb on the belt around her chest and then threw it towards them and once it exploded, all the zombies froze.

"Wow, where did you get something like that?" Natalie said.

"My brother gave them to me." Callie didn't want to tell her anything else related to that sore subject.

Wendy and Natalie whacked the frozen zombies with their bats and the zombies shattered on impact.

If the zombies weren't bad enough, it was about to get worse. Some guards were seen standing around the harvester. They would get shot on sight if they were seen.

Tammy looked around and saw a few things that might be useful to her. She saw a football lying around. A few grenades were seen lying around and also a roll of duct tape on the driveway of someone's house. Some of the items found on the street likely belonged to any inhabitants of the area, but none of them were seen, probably because they were dead, but it wasn't time to wonder about that. She picked up the football, grenades, and duct tape.

_I think I read about this on the Tape It or Die blog. I think Andy made something like this, too._ She taped the explosives onto the football. She walked closer to them. She pulled the pins from the grenades and then threw the explosive-laden football towards the harvester and guards. Upon impact of when it hit the harvester, a big explosion occurred. The guards were out on that same impact. The harvester also had been disabled.

Everyone ran towards the remains of the guards and the harvester. Tammy saw one of the guards holding a light blue gun. She hadn't seen something like this before. She put down her weapon and picked it up. From the other side of the harvester, a zombie, powered by the gas, started walking towards her, as were a bunch of other zombies. She quickly pulled the trigger, only for something she did not expect to come out: a loud sound wave. The wave had hit the gas zombie and saw it start to convulse and then the head exploded. She saw a few other zombies and fired at them, only to see that it didn't affect other zombies.

Out of the body of the headless gas zombie, a queen bee started flying out. At a moment's notice, she quickly stomped on the bee. A lot of the other zombies convulsed and then died on impact from that. The looks on the faces Tammy's posse were full of shock.

Now that she saw how aggressive the zombies were when affected by the gas, she asked everyone to regroup. She asked everyone to take a swig of the red liquid drink. Wendy, Natalie, Bodhi, Callie, Marc, and Earvin all took a drink, except for Tammy. She took a drink of the other stuff.

"Tammy, what are you doing?" Earvin said.

"Don't worry about me," Tammy said. "You won't have to worry about the zombies. I can take care of myself."

"We'll still cover for you if shit gets hot," Natalie said.

Tammy nodded her head. It was time to look for Ana and Brad. They shouldn't be too far from where they were at that point.

They started walking around. The effects of that stuff that Tammy drank started to work. Several zombies started turning their attention towards her and not to the others. She killed a few of them and then ran from some if they got even more aggressive. Not to say that none of them didn't notice the rest of her posse, but they were unable to grab them.

But then suddenly, some Hispanic men came walking towards them. Some of them were dressed in casual wear with Cuban, Puerto Rican, and/or Dominican flags on them. Others were wearing suits. They were likely involved in the mop-up crew with innocent civilians.

What was bad was none of them had the right type of weaponry to go up against those men. Before they could run, those men drew their firearms and were ready to eliminate everyone. But then put down the guns and decided on something else. Some drew knives and machetes; as it was clear that shooting them would be too easy and that they would rather give them a slow and painful death.

Until some other gunshots were heard from the sides. Several men and women of African descent started shooting at the gangsters. From behind a few of those people, there was a tall attractive woman with dark skin and was wearing a black vest with a green tank top and dark pants. She got out a weapon and started firing away at a few of those ruffians.

The woman approached Tammy.

"Thank you," Tammy said with so much shock on her face.

"Don't thank me," the woman said with a Caribbean accent. "I have had vendetta against the Caribbean Boyz and Carlos Mendoza for some time now. They even destroyed some of my neighborhood."

Earlier that day, Tammy was told about this neighborhood having been shot up before. It seemed like the people who just saved Tammy and her crew had survived that attack.

"Who are you?" Tammy said. "Do you know Ogoun or Poulet?"

Suddenly, the woman had looked up at her.

"Wait, you know them?" Tammy said. "Poulet is the mother of Ogoun, and they both helped my boyfriend with his injuries."

"I see, and yes, I know them," the woman said. "My name is Nadia. I am the leader of the Sons of Legba. I became leader when my brother was killed by Ricardo Colon, the leader of the Caribbean Boyz. He is also one of Carlos Mendoza's closest associates."

Nadia filled Tammy and everyone else in on what happened to their neighborhood. She had noted the same thing that Ogoun had told her. But what surprised Tammy was that Nadia was married to Ogoun. Being that Nadia had ties to the gang life and that Ogoun had been the drug doctor, it was no wonder why he hadn't spoken to his mother in some time. There was a vicious war with the Caribbean Boyz and Mendoza's cartel after they had betrayed them. The Sons of Legba used to be affiliated with Mendoza.

Tammy asked if Nadia and her gang can help them.

Nadia replied, "We will help you, dear fearless leader. But we are doing our own thing. We have a score of our own to settle, but we will help you."

Tammy then shook Nadia's hand.

It didn't take long until they reached another area. Tammy continued to lead her team. She looked around and saw two familiar faces.

"Hey, Ana!" Tammy yelled.

Ana turned her head, and Brad turned his attention towards them.

"Tammy? What are you doing out here?" Ana said. "And who are all these people?"

"I was in the neighborhood and Paulson told me that you two were under attack," Tammy said. "By the way, I met some people along the way and they have been a big help."

"I see, by the way," Ana directed Tammy's attention to her backup. "This is Jonathan and Alyssa. They have helped Brad and I."

Ana then noticed a couple of blonde women in Tammy's squad, but one caught her attention. "Wait a minute, are you…?"

"Yes, I am Wendy," the natural blonde said and extended her hand. Ana shook her hand.

"I listened to your music when I was younger, but I didn't tell a lot of people," Ana said.

The other blonde introduced herself. "I am Natalie. I am Wendy's biggest fan."

"Nice meeting you, too," Ana said. "Anyway, Tammy, I found some even bigger shit than I imagined." She showed her the video that she recorded earlier.

"Oh shit, we are fucked," Tammy said. "I saw one of those harvesters earlier. I think I broke it."

If nothing will be done soon, then everyone is screwed. But they had to try to get out of the city any way they can.

"We should try to find more of those harvesters and destroy them," Tammy said. "We have an entire an army. If we also find any of the other hunters, we can get some more answers on where to find Simon and that one girl."

For some reason, Ana saw that Tammy had a point. She wanted to send a message to Phenotrans. They had to put a stop to them sooner or later. Most of all, Tammy had a major bone to pick with Simon, especially because of what he had done to Andy.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

**1:22 PM**

It had taken a bit for Andy, Rhonda, Gary, and Deidre to get out to Little Port-Au-Prince, but they made it. Andy had found a muscle car for him to use, to get there faster, but zombies and roadblocks had slowed him down a tad. He was unsure what he was getting himself into. After the recent news report, he was really concerned about his fiancé, despite encouraging her to go out there alone. If only he had seen what Tammy had been doing up to that point.

Andy parked the car and stepped out, with Gary getting out the passenger seat, and Rhonda and Deidre getting out of the backseat. Andy got out a baseball bat with barbed wire around it. Rhonda had a large wrench with her. Gary had a lead pipe. Deidre had a metal bat with her. It was time to look for everyone else.

Andy mainly wanted to look for Tammy, but because he knew that Ana and Brad were out there, he was worried about them, too. He had gotten word about how the virus had been spreading throughout the city, as well as civilians getting murdered, it was possible that they could have been done in, as much as he didn't want to think about it.

Before they left, Andy had asked Paulson if he knew where everybody else was. He had been told that they were out in Little Port-Au-Prince. Andy knew that he wasn't at 100 percent, but it was better than being shacked up all day long. He was able to move better than before. It appeared that the blows he took weren't that had hard that it would take months for him to recover. If Simon had ruptured his kneecap or the disk in his back, it would take a major miracle for him to be moving at that moment. The medicine worked wonders, but he suspected that he wasn't completely better than before.

Rhonda, Gary, and Deidre noticed that Andy limped a bit when he walked.

"Hey, sweetie, are you sure you're okay?" Rhonda asked.

"I'll be fine," Andy said. "I just got to look for everyone."

"Hey, Andy," Gary said. "If you want, me and the ladies will look for your girlfriend and the others. Don't worry about us."

"I said I'm fine," Andy said.

_Just relax, Andy._ He thought. You'll be fine. Just got to look for Tammy, Ana, and everyone else.

Andy walked forward in a straight line. Gary, Rhonda, and Deidre followed him, but still displayed looks of concern for him. The limp wasn't too bad, as he could still move at a decent pace, but it's possible that something could happen.

He didn't even let Tammy know that he was coming. He knew that she would say that he should rest, but if the chances of her getting killed out there were getting better as time went on, he didn't want to let that happen.

He led the way. He was ready to do battle just in case, but the main thing on his mind was to find his lady, as well as his old friend, along with everyone else.

* * *

**BACK AT THE SAFE HOUSE**

**1:31 PM**

Simpson had gone up to the room where Paul and his dog were.

"Listen, Paul, Mr. Williams, whatever you want to be called," Simpson said. "You have to let the military and the government know that there are survivors here. If you don't, then we are all going to die. You are my only hope right now."

"I still don't trust everyone out there," Paul replied. He also looked at Simpson with a look of distrust. "How do I know that they won't lie to the media about all of this?"

Paul was unsure about this. He has a journalistic background, but in his experience, the newsgroups that he worked for had spun around his stories into something else. When he had taken pictures or video of stuff, the media groups had made them look like they had to do with something else. For example, he had shot a video of a man getting beaten up by a woman and he tried to defend himself. He even interviewed the man. But the newsgroup had changed it to make it look like the man was the aggressor and the woman look like the victim. It was one example of him wanting to get out of the media business.

"Listen, I will talk with the general and others for them not to use some of the pictures of the survivors in the media," Simpson said. "But they want to use the shots of zombies and what you saw at the swamp. Please, send them your videos and photos."

Paul sighed. He was reluctant, but if lives were at stake, it was one simple thing that needed to be done.

"Okay, I'll do it," Paul agreed.

**September 29th**

**1:38 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES OR POSSIBLE FIREBOMBING:**

**22:21:20**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I must note that the character of Agent S was a last minute addition. So I recently had reflected on the use of Off The Record exclusive characters. It then hit me about Agent S, who was revealed as one of the villains in that game. I had a hard time deciding who could also be leading the team of hunters who were hunting down civilians to wipe out evidence of living people. Being that Tyler from earlier in the story had been killed off, I had thought of another character. So I thought why not Agent S?
> 
> Oh, and no, Agent S is NOT Stacey Forsythe in this story. Stacey already had a couple of cameos in interviews, and in my mind, she has the same facial features as she did in the regular Dead Rising 2. Agent S has the facial features that Stacey had in DR2: Off The Record. There was a theory online sometime after OTR came out, especially on the GameFAQs boards, that Stacey in OTR was not the same as Stacey in regular DR2 and that maybe the original Stacey had been killed or something. They had different facial features, so why not make Agent S a separate character?
> 
> Also, regarding Alyssa and Jonathan, yes, they are returning characters from DR1. As for them being married, well, in my mind, I like to think that Alyssa liked Jonathan (As noted in Tales of the Survivors of Willamette), and that Jonathan liked her deep down. I may do a chapter on a budding romance between the two in that story, but in this story, it had already been established that they got together. As for Brett not appearing, well I like to think that they all kept in touch, but it would seem he would be a third wheel in this bit, especially if Alyssa and Jonathan were together.


	28. War Zone (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the previous chapter. Andy searched for Tammy, while getting caught up in some mess.

**September 29th**

**1:53 PM**

**TIME UNTIL MILITARY ARRIVAL OR POSSIBLE FIREBOMBING:**

**22:06:49**

The sun shined and the warm weather heated up the city that afternoon and the streets were littered with the undead and a bunch of living people trying to survive the heat of the tension. But for some it wasn't just a case of survival. It was also of trying to bring down the people who were behind the outbreak.

However, some other living people had their own agendas to follow.

For Andy, he was more than glad to be alive from everything that he had endured, especially the torture. But he hasn't fully recovered from the injuries sustained from the torture. Rhonda, Gary, and Deidre noticed that he limped a bit. But he wasn't about to let that affect him. He had recovered enough to walk a good distance with the others following him.

What's crazy about all of this was Andy never really pictured himself as a hero, at least when comparing himself to the likes of Frank West or Chuck Greene. When he went through the Fortune City Outbreak two years prior, he mainly did what he could to survive, even though he went through some trouble. Not just with zombies, but also looters and then there were moments when he had to find some safety when he saw some guys dressed in orange carrying SIG SG 552 Commandos in the casinos.

But when comparing himself to Frank and Chuck, it was hard for him to imagine himself at that level. Though really, those two managed to go through major obstacles for a couple of men who weren't special agents or anything like that. One was a journalist covering an outbreak. The other was a former motocross champion and devoted father who was framed for starting an outbreak and wanted to keep his young daughter safe. Andy mainly wanted to face his own fears and keep his girlfriend safe. But at the same time, Tammy wanted to keep her eye on him and had shown that she could handle things on her own.

Now he had been dealing with various types of psychopaths. Whenever he would come across a survivor, he felt the need to save them. The sight of seeing people dying in front of him during Fortune's End was a hard thing he went through. It didn't help that he left his half-brother Adrian behind in the arena. It was something he grew to regret. When he told Tammy about it sometime after they started dating, she said that it wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't feel bad about it. He ran for his life, but at some point he forgot that his brother was in the arena.

Even though Tammy knew how to take care of herself, he still wanted to make sure she was okay. Those nightmares he had still affected him, and with someone whom she knew well and he had heard about involved in the outbreak, he would be damned if he would let that happen.

He led the way for his crew. Many of the buildings, such as residents and others had murals on the walls. Some even interesting artwork. In a way this was similar to Little Santiago, except that this had more of a Haitian feel, not Cuba.

Andy noticed that some zombies started to move a little faster than before and that their skin had looked a lot more decayed than ever before. He remembered hearing about some zombies back in Fortune City had become a lot more aggressive and it wasn't from the mutation after nightfall. No, this was a different strain of the virus.

Andy swung his barbed wire bat towards the head of the zombie, but it didn't go down completely. The aggressive zombie quickly got back up and faced Andy. The zombie growled and breathed out some blood.

He froze but then he slowly took a step backwards. He tried to swing the barbed wire bat but was blocked by the zombie's arm as it extended the arm forward to grab him the shoulders and the moved closer to Andy's neck. This type of zombie was even more aggressive. Once the walking cadaver had grabbed him, he pushed him to the ground. The zombie closed in onto Andy's right shoulder and the right side of his neck. The zombie was so close that he felt its teeth barely touching his flesh.

Flashbacks of that nightmare had come back. He was in the same position that the infected Tammy put him in. But he wasn't about to give up. He raised his arms to try to push the zombie off of him, but there was so much weight on him and the zombie was still trying to bite him. Andy had no idea how he managed to barely move his neck and shoulders away and it wasn't by much, either.

He was ready to accept his fate. As he looked up, he saw the zombie get pushed off. He looked to his right and saw Gary standing over him and then he let out his hand to help Andy get up.

"Are you okay, kid?" Gary said.

"I'm fine, thank you so much," Andy said.

He looked over and saw the downed zombie squirming on its back. Then he noticed the rest of his crew holding back other zombies and some of the more aggressive ones. Andy ran and kicked the head off of that particular zombie. Out of the corpse flew a queen.

The insect flew at a considerable speed and when he noticed more zombies coming out of the woodwork, he had to come up with something other than just crushing it.

For some reason, he saw a glass jar on the ground, unbroken, too. No time to figure out the reason why, he just went forth and picked it up and opened it. The queen flew towards him and raised the glass item and the bee flew right into it and then he quickly sealed it.

Please let this work. He thought. He remembered seeing Chuck Greene throwing a jar with that bug in there and killing them. He wondered how that worked when people threw canisters with the wasps and the just flew away and infected people.

Then he saw that more zombies started surrounding Gary, Rhonda, and Deidre. Though they were able to handle themselves, it was now or never. He raised his right arm and swung it forward and threw the jar towards the ground near the zombie horde. Right when he heard the glass shatter, he looked up and saw that many of the zombies started to convulse and then die with some having their heads explode and others just collapsed. Many of the zombies died but not all of them. Some of the zombies that were still standing looked a lot more decayed and were more aggressive. They had to have been those particular ones with that strain of the virus.

The other three were ready to fight them. Andy quickly ran towards them and then joined in. All four of them fought them with all of their might. They were hard to take down, but when they were down, they did not stop until they were completely dead. It took some time, but they managed.

"Man, what kind of zombies are these?" Rhonda said. "They just seem to be more berserk than the others."

Andy replied, "I had read this book on Fortune's End. I read this part about some zombies that were powered by some kind of gas. I had even seen some of those myself."

"Where did you see some of those?" Gary said.

"I was caught in the Fortune City outbreak two years ago," Andy said. "When the safe house was breached, some of those zombies had come in. It was amazing how everyone in the safe house got out alive even when that happened."

"So you've been through something like this before?" Rhonda said.

"Yes, I have," Andy said. "It's amazing something like this can happen to someone twice."

Deidre remembered that she wasn't in the Fortune Plaza when the outbreak went down. She had the night off at The Peephole the night of the Terror Is Reality event. If she had worked that night, she would have had to deal with the zombies herself. She knew to handle them during this outbreak, that's for sure.

The quartet walked a few extra blocks to look for people. A man was seen standing on top of a car trying to hold off some zombies. Andy and the other three ran towards the man and went to work on clearing the way of the undead. Once he was cleared, he thanked everyone for helping and said that he'll be on his way.

"Hey, there are a lot of people out here getting killed by killers and zombies," Andy said. "You're better off rolling with us."

"It's every man for himself out here," the man said. "I'll be fine."

The man ran away, but it wasn't long until he was caught by a zombie and got bit. The zombie released him and then fell to the ground and then started to convulse. Andy saw that blood fell from the man's mouth. Fate was sealed for that man. He turned his head around and looked towards Andy. The man's eyes had glazed over. Veins popped out of his skin and the man's skin had become paler. He was now a zombie.

The now zombie, along with other walking festering corpses, including the one that bit the man, walked towards Andy and his crew. They went forth and took them down.

"Hey, Andy," Rhonda said. "Where are we going?"

"We're trying to look for Tammy," he said.

She replied, "Does she know you're out here? You should call her."

Even though he didn't want her to know that he had been out there, Andy figured it would have been best to let someone know that he was close by.

"Hold on, I have to make a call," Andy said. He looked around to make sure that there was a spot that was safe enough for him not to get attacked by zombies.

Despite there being some zombies nearby, the streets were clear enough that he could stand by somewhere to call someone. He looked by an alleyway and saw that there was a chain-link fence with a gate. He told everyone to follow him and they all followed him and went towards the alley and the ladies followed Andy, while Gary closed the gate. A few zombies walked up and growled and snarled a bit while looking at the muscular wrestler in the eye.

Andy got out his phone and went to the one person he wanted to call. He waited as the phone rang.

"Hello, Andy?" a woman's voice said.

"Tammy, hey," he said.

"Andy, what's going on?" Tammy said.

"I'm out looking for you," Andy said. "Listen, I know what you're going to say but I am feeling better right now. I just want to know where you are because I'm worried."

"Look, I am on St. Croix Avenue right now," Tammy said. "I have a lot of people with me. I am also with Ana, Brad, and a couple of other people. We're fine right now, but let me know when you get closer."

"I will, Tammy," Andy said. "See you in a bit."

Andy looked up and saw that he was on Saint-Marc Street. He checked his GPS that St. Croix was not far from there. It was only four blocks west from where they were. If only he knew that his lady had a lot of backup with her and also showed some leadership skills that she didn't know that he had.

He had considered going out the way they went in, but then he saw that a lot of zombies had crowded around the gate. If he were to open it, the zombies would walk in and he would be a goner. So what was the other option? Deidre tried to look on the other end of the alley and saw another closed gate, except that zombies hovered around that gate, too.

"Shit, what the fuck do we do?" Deidre said. She looked around and saw a screen door with an open door in front of it. "Hey guys."

Andy, Gary, and Rhonda went to Deidre, who then pointed out that there was an open door.

"What are we waiting for?" Rhonda said. "Let's go!"

The four went inside and it looked like a kitchen inside. Not a kitchen of someone's home. It looked like a kitchen to a restaurant. If they were in a restaurant, at least now they found some food to eat if they got hungry.

But what was more important was they needed to find a way out to get to where they needed to be. Andy felt like they weren't the only ones in the building. It couldn't have been because the place had customers. But maybe someone or some people could have been hiding there.

So he quietly asked everyone to walk slowly. He just had a feeling in his gut about this and it wasn't hunger, despite walking in a restaurant.

"HELP, SOMEONE HELP!" Andy went full stop when he heard that.

"Did you hear that?" Andy whispered to his partners.

"Did I hear what?" Gary said.

The same voice yelled "Is someone out there?" It sounded like it could have been a woman. Where the voice was coming from was the real question.

The quartet slowly walked through the hallway that was headed into the dining area. They wanted to get out of there, but Andy felt that they should try to see where that person who cried for help was. It had dawned on him that he really had a hero instinct in him. All those lives that were taken away in Fortune City and in PTC, no one deserved to die the way they had been.

When they got closer to the dining area, a dark-skinned man with an apron walked up to the hallway and looked up right at them. Andy jumped a bit when he saw that person. In no way did he expect to see another possible person in the dining area. Why was he there?

"Oh, hello," the man said with a thick accent. "Welcome. I wasn't expecting customers at this hour, but how nice of you to join me for my latest dish."

All four people looked at him funny. Was this guy under the wrong impression that they came in to grab something to eat?

"How nice of you to join me," the man said. "I am Jean-Pier. I am the chef and owner of this restaurant. Go and find yourself a table and I will cook up some food."

The same voice kept on yelling. Andy wondered where it came from. He stood right by the doorway into the kitchen area and noticed jars with things that were unidentifiable. Another thing that seemed a bit off to him was his apron, as it had a lot of red stains on there.

The chef said, "Listen, young man, why don't you and your friends go find a table? All of you are my first customers of the day. You will be the first to try my newest dish. It's all on me."

Andy led the way for him his team to go into the dining area.

He whispered to Rhonda, Gary, and Deidre. "Is it just me, or is there something off about him?"

Gary turned his head a tad. "I don't know, but there is something weird about this place, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"That guy seemed like he was cooking," Deidre said. "But we're the only ones here. I don't know about you, but I smelled something weird when we walked in."

Rhonda added, "Let's just get out of here, okay? I already have a weird feeling about this."

Though Andy would be in agreement to just leave, the fact that he heard a woman scream was something that he just couldn't ignore. The chef had red all over his uniform. The stuff in the jars just did not look like food. There was something suspicious about this man.

He looked towards his posse and told them to go and hide for a bit. If something were to happen, he would yell for their attention.

Gary nodded his head, "You got it, kid."

Rhonda patted Andy on the shoulder. "We'll help you, sugar."

Deidre said. "We got your back, papi."

"Call me Andy," he said. "Just wait for my signal."

Andy slowly walked towards the kitchen. He peeked right back the edge of the doorway and saw Jean-Pier standing by the freezer, where he saw what looked like a girl of African descent in front of the seemingly crazy chef.

The chef looked and then turned around and saw Andy.

"Oh, young man, I thought I told you to go and sit down," Jean-Pier said. "You don't want to ruin the surprise, do you? Well, actually, I think maybe you should see what I have in store for you and your friends."

Andy turned and glanced and noticed that the freezer door was slightly open. The girl looked scared and shook her head. She gave him a sign. She made a biting motion towards her arm. She then made a cutting motion into her chest. What was she trying to say?

Suddenly, Andy had gotten an idea.

"You see, I would like for you to taste my latest dish," Jean-Pier said. He got out a spoon from the pot.

"Here, try it out," the chef said. "Let me know what you think."

Andy looked at it with confusion which grew into a look of disgust on his face.

"What is this stuff?" he said with so much aversion in his voice.

"Now it wouldn't be a secret if I told you, now would it?" the chef said.

"Who would want to eat this?" Andy said.

"What? You don't want to try my newest dish?" Jean-Pier said. "I try to make you a good meal and now you don't want to try it?"

Andy wasn't sure if that came out wrong. But the chef had other ideas.

"You know, I think I am missing one other ingredient for my dish," the chef said, and then saw a big meat cleaver on the counter. "I am looking right at it."

A look of fear rose on Andy's face in that moment, but there was no backing on down in his mind. He picked up his barbed wire bat.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: JEAN-PIER LABEAU**

The chef quickly swung the meat cleaver towards Andy, but he was quick to jump and fall to the ground. Not exactly a good move, but it was smart enough not to get cut. While on the floor, Andy swung the bat towards the chef's left calf. As the barbed wire had cut his leg, he yelled a bit.

Andy quickly got to his feet and went towards the freezer to open it. The girl looked up and stood up.

"Hurry, get to the dining area," Andy said. "You'll find three other people there. Don't worry, they're with me."

The girl wasted zero time in running to the closest doorway to get out of the kitchen.

The chef turned around a noticed the open door to the freezer. He ran towards Andy with the cleaver in hand and raised it, but Andy was quick to jump out of the way.

However, it wasn't by much, as Jean-Pier quickly got in front of him and slashed the cleaver downward but Andy barely managed to move his left shoulder to the right and the cleaver barely missed him by an inch.

_Whew! That was close!_ He thought. He had the bat only in his right hand, but tried to swing it, but it didn't affect the chef much. The bat dropped from his hand.

"This is it, young man," Jean-Pier said. "You had your chance to try my latest dish. Now you will be part of it."

There was little time. The chef was right in front of him. He saw how sharp the cleaver was. The blade looked sharp enough to cut through flesh and meat easily. The blade was also big enough that the chef could easily decapitate him. He had to think fast. What was nearby for him to use? He saw a pan right on the counter. He gripped it and clocked the chef right in the head with it.

Outside in the dining area, the girl saw Gary, Rhonda, and Deidre.

"Who are you?" Rhonda said.

"I am Angeline," the girl said, who also had an accent. "My boyfriend and I went to hide from the zombies and the hunters. We went in here to look for some food, but then this man locked me in the freezer."

"Where's your boyfriend?" Gary said. "I can go look for him."

Angeline stood their in silence and then looked down. "We were looking for a place to hide from the zombies. We were in an abandoned building across the street, but I told him that I will go look for food. I hope the zombies or the hunters didn't get him."

"Listen," Rhonda interrupted. "My husband and I will go look for him. I'm sure he's safe." She looked to Deidre. "Hey, can you look after her for a bit? And please go check on Andy."

"Sure thing, chica," Deidre said.

Gary and Rhonda stepped out the door of the front entrance to the restaurant to search for Angeline's boyfriend.

Back in the kitchen, Andy had his hands full with Jean-Pier. Andy didn't expect anything like this to go down. All it took was for him to say something negative about the "food" that was being cooked and it just set the chef off.

But after encountering some vicious gangsters, a crazed martial artist, highly-skilled female assassins, and a ruthless auto mechanic who ran a chop shop, he shouldn't be surprised by now. Besides, he had faced death and got out alive each time. He was even brutally tortured and also nearly killed multiple times. He felt confident that he would get out of there alive.

He picked up the barbed wire bat and whacked him in the gut and then hit him in the face. The attacks sent him walking backwards a bit and towards the stove. With his back turned, Andy used this opportunity to return to his crew, he walked towards the door. However, the crazed chef noticed his back towards him, and then had a pan in his hand and then hit him in the back of the head with it.

In the dining area, Deidre heard a sound.

"Oh no, I need to go check on my friend right now," Deidre said. "Stay here, okay?"

Deidre carried her metal bat and slowly approached the doorway and saw the chef dragging Andy towards the stove. The chef had turned on the stove and with there being flames coming out of it, it's clear that this stove was gas-powered. He picked up Andy, who appeared to be conscious but was still a little out of it. He grabbed him by his head and started to drive him face first into the flames. But then Andy put his hands against the edge of the stove and then drove his left elbow into the gut of the chef, who then felt something hit his back.

The chef screamed loudly after being hit, with the attack being hard. But he then turned around and saw Deidre with the bat. He then looked towards Deidre's cleavage in her sexy police outfit and came up with an idea. He grabbed a kitchen knife.

Andy leaned back and noticed a pan on the stove that was already being heated up.

Jean-Pier was ready to cut Deidre. She picked up her bat and swung it, but the chef dodged the attack. He brandished the knife in a stabbing position, until someone else yelled, "Hey, chef!"

The chef turned around and a searing piece of hot metal went right for his face, as Andy stood before him with his hand gripping a handle.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" the chef screamed. Once the pan was off his face, the man's face was badly seared and smoke blew through the air from the man's face.

Andy did not believe what he just did. All he did was just pick up the pan and in that moment, it didn't matter if it was hot or cold. All it took was the sizzling sound of seared skin and an agonizing scream to realize what he did.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Andy said. He walked away and Deidre followed him. But he started to slow down as he heard what sounded like running steps. He turned around and his eyes widened as he saw the chef with the kitchen knife and was ready to stab him. But he was hit once again by Deidre with her metal bat.

The chef got up and turned his attention once again to the Latina stripper. Even though she was brave enough to save Andy, she shook at the sight of this badly burnt chef who was angry at what was going on. Jean-Pier raised his knife and Deidre raised her bat. Deidre watched as the chef raised his right hand over his head and then saw something cut right through the arm and then blood started splattering as half of his arm was cut off. The chef started shrieking loudly from the pain.

Deidre looked over and saw Andy holding that big meat cleaver. The chef tumbled as blood continued to leak from his arm and then tumbled against the stove, which was still on. He put his severed arm against the stove and then caught on fire as the fire ran up his sleeve. He screamed some more and then fell to the floor and saw that the pot started to tip over. It soon fell from the stove and the lid fell off as the contents inside, along with the boiling water spilled right over his face and more of his body caught on fire from the stove. The man was burning in different ways, ranging from the flames to the hot boiling water on his face. It didn't help that he got burned from the pan before.

Andy and Deidre stood there. Their jaws slowly descended from their faces. Deidre turned around and threw up at the gruesome sight. Andy stood there with some shock, but after witnessing many deaths occur, both from this trip and in Fortune City two years before, nothing like this should surprise him anymore.

He turned to the dancer and asked her if she was okay.

"I'm fine, I just never saw someone burn alive like that," Deidre said. It would be a lie if she said that she hadn't witnessed a death in front of her. That stalker she dealt with had killed himself right before her very eyes a few nights before. But what she just witnessed was different.

"Come on, let's go," Andy said. "Maybe Rhonda and Gary found that girl's boyfriend."

The two got out of the kitchen and headed towards the dining area, where Angeline waited. Just then, Gary and Rhonda walked through the front entrance.

"Hey, did you find him?" Angeline said.

"No, we didn't," Rhonda said.

"We tried going into that building and looked all over for him," Gary said. "But when we got into the top floor, my wife and I saw through a window some Hispanic men carrying a black man."

"The man looked like he was kicking and screaming," Rhonda said. "I don't know for sure, but maybe that was your boyfriend?"

Then it hit Angeline. Something told her that her boyfriend was abducted by some people. She had witnessed many murders happen out there. She and her boyfriend hid from the zombies, but most of all, the hunters out there. Some guys were on a manhunt.

It then occurred to Andy who those guys were. When it was said that the men were Hispanic or Latino, he had a good idea who they were. If it was who they thought they were, it seemed that they weren't done with their job.

"We have to go help him right now," Andy said. "Those guys will kill him. Let's go."

The real question on everyone's minds was why they didn't kill the guy at first glance.

That didn't matter. They were out to look for the girl's boyfriend.

"Let me help you," Angeline said to Andy. "You saved my life. I owe you a lot for this."

Andy agreed to let her join his group. He handed her the big meat cleaver so that she could cut through zombies easily. Andy and the rest of his team took off from the restaurant to meet with Tammy, Ana, and the others. Before they left, Andy made a drink for each of them. It was purple and it was supposed to have zombies not pay them any attention.

* * *

**2:43 PM**

It took 10 to 15 minutes to get to there. Everyone else was on the lookout for Angeline's boyfriend. If Andy had dealt with those particular ruffians before, it was possible that the girl's boyfriend was dead already.

But they all had to be optimistic that he was still alive. Like everyone had thought before, if he was just some random person, he would have been dead, which was a good possibility. It would seem that those guys had something planned.

On the plus side, that drink Andy made worked wonders as they all walked through the streets without having to worry about the zombies coming near them.

The group had reached the residential area of Little Port-Au-Prince. Andy looked up and saw a sign that said "St. Croix Avenue." That was the area his fiancé was last time he checked, but it was possible that she and the rest of her posse were gone.

"Peterson! Where are you?!" Angeline yelled out.

Andy suspected that Peterson was the name of Angeline's boyfriend. She continued to yell his name in the hopes of catching his attention.

After a few they got close to heading towards the end of the street, Angeline yelled the name again, until a male accented voice yelled, "Angeline!"

Just then, Andy and the others turned their attentions towards a group of Latino criminals holding a young man of African descent in their arms. From behind the group, a familiar face walked out and made eye contact with Andy.

_Oh shit, him again?_ Andy thought. The man was familiar alright, as the last time they had crossed paths was more than 12 hours before, while he was getting brutally tortured. It was Ricardo Colon, the shot-caller of the Caribbean Boyz.

"Well well, look what we have here," Ricardo said. "I am surprised you're still walking."

"Miracles happen," Andy said. "Let that guy go."

"You know, I wasn't bullshitting when I said that I am impressed by everything you did," Ricardo said. "It seemed that fool Simon underestimated you. But I didn't, not after you and those two putas killed a few of my guys."

"You don't know shit, asshole," Andy said. "Now let that guy go and we'll be out of your way."

"Not so fast, gringo," Ricardo said. "Since your bitch killed Jorge, that fool Simon said that money is all ours if we take you and your puta out."

Andy knew what he called Tammy, but he wasn't about to let that set him off. If he were to get angry, then it was clear that he was letting them win because he would go off and then they would kill him for sure.

"I am going to do something that I should have done a long time ago," Ricardo said and got out a machete.

Andy froze up. He knew that those things were sharp and that if the gang leader were to cut him, there would be no going back. The blade looked so sharp that it would cut through bone marrow like butter. Even if the blade were to barely cut him, it would take a miracle to stop the bleeding.

"Come on, white boy," Ricardo said. "Let's handle this like men."

One thing that he could admire about this guy was that no matter how much of a scumbag he was, Andy saw that he had a sense of honor in him. Gary leaned in and whispered, "Hey, you take care of him. The rest of us will handle the rest."

Andy nodded. He then picked up his barbed wire bat. "Come on, motherfucker, let's fucking finish this."

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: RICARDO COLON**

Ricardo slashed the blade towards Andy a couple of times. But quickly jumped backwards and in the second attempt, he tripped and fell backwards onto his back. Andy looked up and saw Ricardo with the gigantic blade but he thought ahead and swung the bat with the wire at the tip towards the man's leg hard. Ricardo yelled a bit as he felt a sting in his leg and looked down and saw a cut down there.

Andy started to get up and then swung the bat right to Ricardo's gut. The blade slid and fell from the gang leader's hand. Andy swung the bat once again and then Ricardo ducked and socked Andy right in his stomach. Not just anywhere, but the area where he was cut from the torture.

He screamed from the pain and then dropped the bat. Ricardo then got up and swung a right hook to his face which knocked Andy down. If that wasn't bad enough, he kicked Andy's left leg close to where Simon had hit him with that baseball bat from before.

The pain came back, but it wasn't enough that he had the injury from before. The substance that Ogoun and Madame Poulet gave him did its wonders. The joint wasn't dislocated like before, as he was able to get back up and grab him the legs and tackle him to the ground. Andy punched him in the face a couple of times, but on the third, Ricardo blocked and grabbed Andy by the neck and then pushed him off.

The rest of Andy's team took on the other gang members while he handled his own business. Angeline went to her boyfriend to check on him.

Ricardo got up and then pushed Andy towards a parked car on the side of the road. He then got out a switchblade.

"I don't know why I didn't kill you before," Ricardo said.

Andy thought fast and then stomped on his foot and then decked Ricardo right in his face. He got close and then put him in a headlock and started to punch him a few times in the face.

Ricardo tried to counter by punching him in the stomach. However, Andy ran forward and jumped up and drove Ricardo's face into the pavement. He delivered a bulldog headlock.

Andy got back to his feet and took a deep breath and walked towards the rest of his team. The rest of the gangsters were down. Some of them were beaten by his team. Some more gang members tried to come and help, but were gunned down, but by who was the question. It seemed like he had more support than he thought.

But Ricardo got up and saw that his knife was close to him and then picked it up. He slowly sneaked up on Andy, like he was ready to cut him.

Andy sensed something was amiss when he saw the rest of his cohorts look right at him with concerned and scared looks. One of them even signaled that someone was behind him.

He turned around and saw that Ricardo had the knife in his hand. He jumped back a bit, but Ricardo took him down. He was right over him and moved the blade right over Andy's face. He turned it over to have the blade pointed right towards his Andy's neck.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you left me no choice," Ricardo said as he raised the knife. Right when he was about to drive the blade into Andy, he dropped it as he felt something hit his back and then let go of the blonde man.

Andy lied there and saw a redhead woman holding a barbed wire bat. It was none other than his angel.

"Tammy? Oh, am I glad to see you," Andy said.

Tammy extended her arm out to help Andy get up.

Right when Andy got up, he saw Ricardo on the ground and then kicked him while he was down. When Ricardo tried to sit up, Andy then kicked him right in the face. Andy hugged Tammy right after that.

"Are you okay, babe?" Tammy said.

"Never better, honey," Andy said. "Where's Ana?"

"She and Brad went to look for more of those weird machines and some other Phenotrans guys," Tammy said.

Andy looked over and saw the amount of people that were with her.

"Looks you got quite an army here."

Tammy smiled at that comment and looked down at Ricardo. "What do we do about him?"

"He must know more about Simon's plan and what Phenotrans is planning to do," Andy said.

After a few minutes, the couple, along with a few of the survivors from each team, stood over the beaten gang leader.

"You know, you two have made this whole job for me and my boys much more interesting," Ricardo said. "You two putos were really hard to kill."

"Shut the fuck up," Andy said. "I just want to know what that fucker Simon is planning to do."

Ricardo laughed. "You know that guy is an idiot, right? He acts like he is the shit, but when he don't get his way, he gets mad like a little kid would. Though I have seen him act like a little bitch in front of his boss."

"His boss?" Tammy said. But she then remembered that video that Ana showed everyone at the safe house. She now had an idea who this boss was.

"Wait, tell me more," Tammy said. "What exactly was the plan?"

Ricardo replied, "You know what? I need a fuckin' drink." He saw that Tammy had a couple of water bottles on her. He quickly grabbed the one with the pink stuff in it.

"Wait, don't drink that stuff!" Tammy yelled. "You don't know what that is!"

"Fuck off," Ricardo didn't care. He took a swig from the bottle and then threw it afterward.

"That fool Simon tried to pay me to kill you guys," Ricardo said. "I didn't need the fuckin' dough from that asshole. I just wanted to get paid by the real big man. He and that fucker's boss were paying us to get rid of all the people out here if the zombies didn't get to them."

"Well, I met somebody who you might know," Tammy said and then turned around.

Ricardo looked up and saw a Haitian woman wearing green and black. "Oh, fuck me."

"Hello, Ricardo," the woman said. "Remember me?"

"Fuck, Nadia," Ricardo said. "I thought we killed all of you."

"Not all of us," Nadia said. "But you killed my brother and the rest of your guys and Mendoza's men killed a lot innocent people in this neighborhood."

"You know what, I don't need this shit," Ricardo got to his feet and tried to walk away. But he then looked ahead of him and saw a few zombies coming towards him. The zombies were all paying attention to him. He turned around tried to run, until he felt teeth pierce into his neck.

Tammy, Andy, Nadia, and a few others looked on.

"I told him to not drink that," Tammy said.

Andy responded, "What does that stuff do?"

"It makes you bait to zombies," Tammy said.

"Oh shit," Andy said.

The zombies were all shot and taken down by some of Nadia's soldiers.

The couple and a few others approached Ricardo, who had his left hand to the left side of the neck.

"It's only a matter of time, man," Andy said.

"Okay, I will tell you," Ricardo said. "There is this one woman agent who works for Phenotrans who was leading this entire mission for us to take out any survivors. This woman is fucking ruthless. I've seen her kill a few people myself. Simon and that girl were setting up these machines to harvest these bees for this new strain of the virus. They also have plans to start an outbreak in Miami and other parts of the state. There is a lab somewhere in the city. They are planning something big. They have these new bees that will turn people into zombies, so that they can try to sell their bullshit drug!"

Andy and Tammy were surprised that he was telling them all of this.

"Where is this lab?" Andy said.

"It is somewhere close to North Shore and Palm Tree Beach. Okay, it's not really a lab. They found an abandoned warehouse or factory or some shit and set up shop there. I can give you the address. It's 8120 Steele Street. I also know that they're looking for someone infected or some special girl so that they can start the next outbreak."

Andy and Tammy looked at each other with so much shock on their faces. They knew exactly who they meant.

"Listen, if you're telling us this, you can help us," Tammy said. "I can go look for some Zombrex for you."

"No," Ricardo said. "I don't give a fuck anymore. Just let me turn, okay?"

"Why did you tell us this, then?" Andy said.

"I just didn't like that motherfucker Simon," Ricardo said. "That fool is fucking crazy. I know I have killed people, but the way he did all that shit to you, he is a fucking hothead and a psycho. He don't respect nada. I didn't shake his hand again after that. Just let me turn, okay? None of this shit matters to me anymore."

Andy, Tammy, Nadia, Gary, and Rhonda, as well as a few others saw that veins started to pop out of his flesh. The man's eyes started to glaze over a bit. Blood started to ooze out of his mouth. The gang leader had reached the point of no return.

Once he turned, Nadia quickly got out her pistol and blasted a slug right into the zombie Ricardo's head. No one was sure if this was a case of protection against the undead or if it was anger about what his gang did. But she did what she felt that she had to do.

In the meantime, Angeline and her boyfriend Peterson approached Andy and thanked them for what he did for them. Andy shook Peterson's hand and appreciated their gratitude.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

Ana and Brad went to investigate more of another area where the Phenotrans operatives were setting up another harvester. They weren't far away from the others.

Brad said, "Listen, I'm going at this alone."

"What?" Ana said.

"If I get into that truck, I can go back to their lab," Brad said. "Once I get inside, I'll let you and Simpson what's up. I need to see what else they're planning."

"I can't let you do that," Ana said. "They'll kill you."

"If Gates knows that I'm infected, then they'll use me as part of their plan," Brad said. "But I got this. I will tell you and your superior to come and help me."

Ana shook her head.

"Just go back to the others," Brad said. "I got this. Trust me."

Ana was speechless, but she let him go and do this anyway. She went to Alyssa and Jonathan and they went to meet with Tammy and the others.

Brad slowly sneaked into the area and tried to find an opening to get into a truck to stowaway on to.

"Hey you!" a Phenotrans guard yelled and shot a sound wave towards him from a blast frequency gun. Brad was a bit incapacitated that moment.

Simon and Agent S, and a few other Phenotrans operatives approached the downed ZDC agent.

"Holy shit," Simon said. "I never thought that you would still be breathing, Brad."

The female agent looked towards him, "You know this guy?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know him," Simon said. "And from what I understand, he has the virus. We may have found the perfect candidate for the next outbreak in Miami."

"Fuck you, Simon," Brad said, even though he was actually faking it.

"Come on," Agent S said. "Let's take him to the lab. We can't keep Mr. Walters waiting."

From a distance, Ana saw everything happen. She saw that soon after, they had carried Brad into one of the trucks to take him away.

_I hope you know what you're doing, Brad._ Ana thought. _But I have a bad feeling about this._

Agent S was looking around the area to see if there were any other potential infiltrators. Just then, she saw a Hispanic girl with two Caucasian people run off. She had a look of suspicion on her face.

Simon approached her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I think I saw some people," Agent S said. "But I don't know for sure."

"I'll go look," Simon said.

"No, don't," Agent S said. "Our guys will handle them soon."

It wasn't long until Ana and the two survivalists had regrouped with Andy, Tammy, and their groups.

Tammy looked over and saw Ana, "Hey, what's wrong? Where's Brad?"

Ana replied, "Brad got caught by those Phenotrans guys. They're taking him to a lab."

Tammy and Andy looked at each other and were glad that they were given this information before.

Andy added, "I think I know where they're going. We should go find him."

"Wait," Tammy said. "We have to get everyone else back to the safe house."

Andy, Tammy, and Ana looked and saw the amount of people that they had with them. They realized that they need something like a bus to get there.

Andy said, "Hey, I'll call George."

"No, there's no time for that," Ana said. "We have to find something to get everyone there."

It appeared that they didn't need their personal transit driver after all. A transit bus was seen near an intersection that divided the residential area and some businesses. Andy led the way for everyone to get on the bus.

Tammy approached Nadia and her goons.

"Hey, if you want to see your husband, he's at the safe house," Tammy said. "It's on the East Bay Island just south of the mainland."

Nadia smiled when the redhead woman mentioned her husband's name. "I'll meet you guys there."

Tammy and Nadia shook hands. Tammy then got on the bus.

Ana contacted Sheryl. "Hey, we're going back to base right now." A pause occurred. "Wait, what? What happened?"

Andy and Tammy looked at her.

"I'll let Simpson know," Ana said. "Meet us back at base."

Andy asked, "What happened?"

Ana replied, "Maria was kidnapped. Some of those guys tried to also take Erin, but she got away. Those guys figured out who Maria was. We have to go save her."

Tammy had a look of shock mixed with concern on her face. Andy was concerned, too, but it wasn't the time.

He got to the driver's seat, with the key still in the ignition. He started it up and everyone was on their way back to the safe house.

**September 29th**

**4:39 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES OR POSSIBLE FIREBOMBING:**

**19:20:57**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt that it was time for Andy to get back into action, so the majority of this chapter was centered on him.
> 
> Regarding the psychopath fights, I had planned on the fight with Ricardo and it was time for him to meet his fate. No, this wasn't him turning good. It was to show that he had standards, which was why he helped our heroes a bit.
> 
> As for the chef battle, that one just came out of nowhere. This was sort of a mix between Larry from Dead Rising 1 and Antoine from Dead Rising 2. So he was a cannibalistic chef.


	29. Only the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude that touches on multiple perspectives.

**September 29th**

**5:21 PM**

**TIME UNTIL MILITARY ARRIVAL OR POSSIBLE FIREBOMBING:**

**18:38:48**

Only a few minutes had passed when Andy, Tammy, and Ana brought back all the survivors to the safe house. Many of them had proved to be quite a big help to their respective leaders. With more than 18 hours left until their possible rescue, everyone thought it would be best for them to just relax.

Ana tried to search for her superior agent, as there was one thing that she needed to share with him. In her case, this whole case was far from over. There was little time, so there had to be a way to take down Phenotrans. Andy and Tammy had filled her in on where Brad and Maria might be, as the fallen gang leader had met his demise while out there.

It was a shock, really. The Caribbean Boyz had caused everyone a lot of trouble, mainly because they were working with the shady pharmaceutical company, as well as the wanted drug lord. It then occurred to her that Mendoza may not get out of the city alive. She felt that the man was in the city. She wanted to bring him down as much as Simpson did, but she also wanted to bring down the people who started the outbreak, Robert Walters and Simon Gates.

The couple wanted to bring them down, too. After Andy had that price on his head, as well as the possibility that someone had framed him for the outbreak, as much as he wanted to get out of the city with his lady, the main thing on his mind was to get revenge for what Tammy's psychopathic ex put him through.

Like Andy had thought before, for someone to start an outbreak, it had to be more than just a revenge thing for Andy being with Tammy. This was too big of a plan for something as petty as envy and jealousy.

Ana went to the security room. She saw Paulson standing outside.

"Hey, have you seen Bruce anywhere?" Ana said.

Paulson replied, "He is in the security room right now. He had been in there for a while. He had to make an important call."

Ana remembered that her partner and superior had been doing everything in his power to green light a rescue for the survivors. She was certain that not everyone in the city will be able to get out alive, assuming that there were more survivors out there who hadn't been murdered at the hands of those mercs. But they could at least try to get everyone in the safe house out there. She remembered the day before, when Simpson was trying hard to convince any other government officials to get people out of there.

But with a lot of survivors being eradicated out in various parts of the city, there was little evidence, except for the survivors in the safe house.

Ana opened the door and saw Bruce on the phone.

"Yes, all of those pictures are real," Simpson said. "Look, I'm just trying to get everyone out of here as soon as possible. I had heard reports of the firebombing taking place."

She stood there quietly while Simpson had paused a bit.

"Look, Lyons, who have you been getting word from about bodies found out there?" Bruce said. "A ZDC agent? Was he heading the operation or what? Listen, one ZDC agent managed to barely make it out of there and had been working with one of my field agents. They gave me word that one of those agents had been involved in this outbreak. Look, I don't give a shit about anything anymore. I just want to get everyone out of here. This whole case has been blown to shit. So what if the news had said about the chances of the firebombing. That doesn't mean you can't get anyone out of here. If the firebombing does happen tomorrow like you guys are saying, you can try getting the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Air Force, whatever, to get the people out of here as soon as fucking possible. You can try getting them to come before all of the planes start dropping the bombs. I just want to clear everyone before all this other shit goes down. Please get back to me within the next two hours or less. Bye."

Right when Bruce hung up, he turned around and saw Ana standing there.

"Hey, Ana, what's going on? Did you find anything? Where's Agent Park?"

"I have some bad news," Ana looked down and to her sides. "Brad tried to infiltrate a Phenotrans facility, and that one girl who was wanted? She was kidnapped by those guys."

Simpson replied, "Well, that's just great."

"If you think that's bad," Ana said. "Phenotrans plans to start the next outbreak soon. Since Brad is infected with the zombie virus, they're going to have him and that girl Maria start the next one. They plan on infecting Miami very soon."

"Do you know where they could be?" Simpson said.

Ana gave him the address of where their hidden lab is. She also told him that Andy and Tammy had given her the information before the gang leader's dying (or undying) breath. Just then, suspicion flowed through her system. Why would this guy tell the couple about the facility, especially with everything that he had put them through? Whether it was a setup or he was just trying to help them, at least they have an idea on where they could be.

Bruce then told her about the long talk he had. He got Paul to provide the images and videos of survivors to prove to the government so that they could expedite the rescue mission and/or maybe delay the firebombing. She wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, but at the same time, she also wanted to bring down everyone involved, but getting out was more important.

Then it hit her. She remembered that exactly 24 hours before; Brad got infected and then suppressed the transformation process by taking Zombrex. He might turn any minute now.

* * *

**PHENOTRANS FACILITY**

Inside the building, which looked like it used to be a factory, there was a big harvester at the center. Many zombies crawled around the area with no destination in mind but were kept at by some of the guards and mercenaries with blast frequency guns.

Then a really loud sound occurred, which caused some zombies to react to the noise and then their heads exploded in the process. What is their plan for the next outbreak? What will they do next?

Up at the top, Agent S was looking on at the operation going on. Many of the queens were being harvested, whether it's for the next outbreak or for this new strain of the virus.

Out of nowhere, Simon walked right up and then stood beside her.

"Interesting, huh?" he said.

Agent S replied, "I don't know what you mean. All I want to know is if you got rid of some more of our problem out there."

"Relax," Simon said. "From what I understand, even if I don't eliminate our problem, the US Military will. As far as everyone else is concerned, the city will be bombed tomorrow. We will be gone by then."

Agent S turned towards him. "You know, I actually wonder if you know what you're doing." The female agent continued. "Mr. Walters came to me, Tyler, and you to try to clean out the city of any potential witnesses. Besides, Ms. Mallon wants us to try to gain more profit. After Fortune City, it seemed that people suspicious of our cause, so now we have to show the public that we mean business."

"I just think it's cool that we will make some more money soon," Simon said. "The more money that Mr. Mendoza has, the richer we get. I don't give a fuck about saving lives. It is all about the money, isn't it?"

Agent S turned her attention towards Simon. "You don't want to search for a cure? I thought you were down for the cause."

"Oh shut up," Simon said. "Tyler is dead and I know that guy was nuts. But this whole thing is just cool. It's like I'm living in a horror movie. As for our other problems, they'll get taken care of soon. I've been telling the government that there is no sign of life out there."

Agent S replied, "I know Tyler was a piece of work, but at least he got shit done."

"Whoa, hold up," Simon replied. "I got a lot of shit done out there. Don't tell me that I haven't done anything."

The female agent closed in on him. "You know, I heard about your little 'hit' that you put out. I know some stuff about you. You think that just because you inherited your parents' fortune after they 'disappeared' that you are untouchable. But just remember that you're not close to being in my league. Besides, I know about the bonus you put out for the trio at the convention."

Simon tried to deny about the contract he put out on Andy and his ex-girlfriend, but Agent S saw right through him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, honey," Simon replied.

Agent S scoffed at that remark. "Don't ever call me 'honey' again, or else I'll rip your tongue out."

Simon chuckled at that remark.

"By the way, shouldn't you go look at our prisoners right now?" Agent S said.

"Why do I have to do it?" Simon said.

Agent S replied, "I got more important shit to look at. I'll be right there in a bit."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the office above that was overseeing the entire operation at the bottom, Carlos Mendoza looked on at everything that went on, while Robert Walters said at his desk pouring wine into a couple of glasses.

"So what you think?" Walters said. "This is only the beginning. We're getting ready for our next outbreak in Miami."

Mendoza looked on with a look of disgust and intrigue over this whole operation.

"Want a drink?" Walters said.

Mendoza approached him and then grabbed the glass and took a sip.

"Mr. Walters, I have to say that this whole thing pleases me, but at the same time, this also kind of worries me." He then walked over to the chair in front of the desk to sit down.

"What do you mean?" Walters replied.

"While it is interesting that you are destroying this whole city like I told you to," Mendoza said. "But I can't say that I expected all of this to happen. I thought the plan was for the virus to spread into the next city and so on."

"Hey, nobody said that this stuff was easy," Walters said. "I mean it takes time for the virus to spread. Look at the Las Vegas outbreak. The only other outbreaks that happened around the same time were a couple of small towns. Besides, this is supposed to drive up our stock a little more after all that shit that happened in Fortune City. Besides, it was only in the casino plaza that it happened at. It didn't spread into the residential areas or other parts of the city."

"What about getting my father out of prison?" Mendoza said. "That was the plan, right? I paid you a large sum of money and in exchange, you get him out and then you get us out."

"We're working on that," Walters said. "Some of my men went to take care of the prison break and they will get him out."

Mendoza took another sip. "I am just tired of waiting. It took me a long time to get here, because we have the military blocking the water, as well as exits and entrances into the city."

"I should hear from my men soon," Walters said. "As for what you just said, well, you need to know that you are also a wanted man. You took over your father's business when he got put into jail. He is facing life, maybe even death. You did just as much damage to this city, if not more, so you're not totally out of the woods here, amigo."

"I wouldn't say we're 'amigos,'" Mendoza said. "Partners, maybe, but we're not friends. I paid you a lot of money, but now I am waiting for my end of the bargain. I have to get out of here soon."

"Hold up," Walters said. "I have a question for you. Being that you are wanted and had spent time out of the country, particularly Cuba. If any feds or the military catch you, wouldn't you be taken to Cuba, anyway? You're going to the same place either way, that is if they take you alive. After all, with all the shit that you had done, if they take you alive, you're not going to just end up in prison, you're going to Guantanamo Bay, which is even rougher than any maximum-security prison out here."

Mendoza looked at Walters with a scowl.

"You came to us when you needed help and we knew just the way to cover your tracks," Walters said. "But I'm afraid that you're going to learn this the hard way. The money you paid us, we needed to fund for any research and other equipment for any other experiments. We will get you your ticket out of here, but I thought you just needed to know that."

"So that's it? You just used me?" Mendoza said.

"I'm afraid it is," Walters said. "Besides, the CEO will have me fired if word gets out that I was working with a wanted criminal. Plus, Phenotrans will get a lot of shit for it. But don't worry, you will get your end of the bargain. But that's all I have to say."

Mendoza got out of his chair and knocked it over in anger.

"You think this is a game, don't you?" Mendoza said. "You don't want to admit that you're working with a wanted criminal. I know I've killed people, whether I had people do it for me, or I did it myself, but you are no better than me, cabron. I killed people over business matters, or if there were witnesses, but you're just killing people to drive up your fucking sales of your bullshit drug that only keeps people from turning into zombies for only a day. Do you ever think about looking for a cure or at least come up with a new drug that will last longer than a day?"

"I'm a little shocked to hear that coming from you," Walters said after he chuckled. "Besides, this drug is more legal than the shit you were dealing."

"Bullshit, chocho," Mendoza said with fury in his voice. "I may have dealt with narcotics and all that shit, but I am not scamming people to pay a grand for that drug that only works for 24 hours. I may be a criminal, but at least I have a sense of honor and code, unlike you."

"I am not a criminal," Walters said. "I'm just trying to make an honest buck and save some lives in the process. All the money you have made was dishonest and you took some lives in the process."

Mendoza then pulled out a gun and pointed it right at Walters.

"Do you know who the fuck you're talking to?" he said.

Walters looked over behind him. "Calm down, Mr. Mendoza, or else some of my men will shoot you."

Mendoza then turned around and noticed some mercenaries, as well as Agent S pointing guns right at him. He then put his weapon down.

"Listen, you can say what you want to me, I really don't give a fuck," Walters said. "But I am also a man of my word. I will call my men and they will give me an update on the prison break."

Suddenly, his phone rang. Walters then looked at the contact and it wasn't who he was expecting.

"Hello, Marian," he said when he picked up.

"Robert," Marian said. "It seems that there is a bit of a problem here. I got someone here who said she needs to speak to you."

"Put her on," Walters said.

Just then, a woman with a Spanish accent started talking on the phone.

"Mr. Walters, what are you doing? Why are you trying to spread the virus?"

"Well, if it isn't Isabela Keyes, I never thought I would hear from you," Walters said. "We're moving towards our goal. Besides, we got the girl. The same girl who escaped and was supposed to start the outbreak in Miami. We are moving forward in our plan."

"I have heard about how big this outbreak is," Isabela said. "You don't need to infect her. We're still trying to look for a cure for the virus."

"Listen to you," Walters said. "I know that we have our own cause, but don't try to act like you're innocent in any of this. You were involved in the Willamette outbreak with your brother, weren't you? I know I've never met your brother, but when I saw that list of those walking time bombs, I have to say that he was a genius. Besides, when more of those orphans turn, we will get our stock back up."

"So it's true, you only care about the money," Isabela said. "I have been trying to look for a cure. Isn't that what we're all trying to do?"

"Listen, Ms. Keyes," Walters said in a condescending tone. "I have some business that I need to take care of. Put Ms. Mallon back on, please."

Walters sat there with Mendoza looking at him with disgust. A woman's voice on the other end said, "Hello, Robert?"

"Marian, looks like our plan is working," Walters said. "As for any other problems, don't worry, they'll be taken care of, and Susan Ingot will be none the wiser in the end. I'll be touch."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a room that appeared to be a storage room when it was the factory, it appeared to be a makeshift cell for any prisoners. Brad had looked around and noticed a young girl in her early-20s lying there asleep. She looked Latina and was wearing a hat.

He looked at his watch and realized that it's been a full 24 hours since he took some Zombrex. He tried to look in his jacket for any of the boxes of that drug. He couldn't find it, nor could he find his pistol that he was carrying.

"Looking for this?" A male voice said condescendingly.

Brad looked up and saw Simon standing right there with a box of that drug. He tried to grab it but Simon quickly backed his hand away.

"Simon, this isn't a fucking joke!" Brad said. "I'm going to turn in a little bit."

"Why do you think you need it?" Simon said. "Besides, you might make our job easier and infect that girl so we can make our plan go forward."

The girl then woke up and looked up and saw the two men talking.

"I wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you," Brad said. "You left me to die and I get infected because of it. Now I have to live with this fucking virus."

"Well, the rest of your life might be a few minutes before you become one of the undead," Simon said. "But then I thought that maybe I could make your our new time bomb before the Miami outbreak."

Simon then got the syringe out of the box and was ready to inject Brad. He moved the syringe close to his arm, but then stopped and moved it back.

"You know, I then thought that maybe that Miami should have a big outbreak," Simon said. "I could have you and Mary right there start the outbreak in different parts of the city. Then the virus could spread and then maybe we could infect all of Florida at any rate."

"JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING DRUG, ASSHOLE!" Brad yelled. Usually in any situation, he was calm, but this was different. He was close to turning and it would be because of how his former partner was behaving.

"Okay, chill, damn," Simon said, who then injected Brad with Zombrex.

Once the stuff was injected into his system, Brad had one thing to say to him.

"You know, you think that you're doing the world a favor. I have heard about Phenotrans' 'cause,' but you're basically murdering people for financial gain. You're not going to leave here in one piece."

Simon then moved close to Brad's face, "Just letting you know…Park, but when you got yourself involved in all this shit, you should have kept your nose out of my business. I tried to have you taken out a few times. That's why I ditched you so many times, but then the bullshit with that loser Andy started and that was when I needed to have all of you dead."

"You know, you think you're bad," Park said. "But you're just a rookie. You're a wannabe. You were a rookie as a ZDC agent, you're a rookie as a Phenotrans agent. You try that shit with anybody else in your unit like you're doing with me, they'll eat you alive. You're nothing."

Simon scowled at him from that remark. "I'll be back, and then I'll take care of you."

Unless I take care of you first. Brad thought.

Brad then turned around and saw Maria sitting up.

He quietly said. "Listen, young lady, I'll get us out of here. Trust me on this."

Maria then nodded her head.

Brad then noticed the tattoo under her right ear. It was the number 40. He remembered the discussions about a "number 40 girl." Ana had filled him in on this, as well as the others about this. There was talk about how 50 orphans were infected and had suppressed the virus from going through until the right time for any potential outbreaks across the country.

"I assure you, I am not one of those people out there," Brad said. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Me, my friend, and my friend's mother," Maria said. "When we were helping you and Agent Torres, there was a point when we got off a roof and went to move somewhere else. These guys recognized me and went after me and my friend Erin. They also tried to take her away, but I told her to run away. This was my problem; I didn't need them to get involved. I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they're fine," Brad said. "But we need to get you out of here."

"You go on ahead," Maria said.

"No, I'm not leaving you here," Brad said.

"I've been running from those people for a long time now," Maria said. "I have no one else. I only have Sheryl and Erin, but I don't want these people to find them."

"You'll be safe with me," Brad said. "I'll try to find a way out of here."

Maria was unsure if she should go along with this. She was willing to accept her fate, as long as the only thing closest to real family was safe in all of this. She cared about them so much, but she was wanted by this company. The last thing she wanted was for her family to get infected or killed. She was willing to risk it all for them.

But nonetheless, she agreed to go with Brad in spite of it.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE ELSE, POSSIBLY WASHINGTON DC.**

A tall African-American Army general stood before other government officials. This whole outbreak had gotten out of hand and had been trying to meet the demands of Agent Bruce Simpson of the FBI. He had wanted to get people out of dodge as soon as possible, but for some reason, they hadn't reached an agreement.

The general started talking, "As you all know, I've been talking with the feds in Palm Tree City about evacuating the area of survivors. The agent had provided some evidence of survivors in a safe house. He demands that we try to get everyone out of there as soon as possible. We can either expedite the rescue or we can delay the firebombing so that we can rescue everyone. Which would be the better option?"

Several military officials and other government officials stood there and tried to figure out the better option. One man, who appeared to be an Army and Air Force turned around and wanted to give his input. He was a Caucasian man.

"Lyons, all I can tell you is that the last couple of major outbreaks had resulted in failure for any armed forces," the other general said. "Look at what happened in Willamette. Brock Mason ended up getting eaten alive by zombies. In Fortune City, Dwight Boykin's unit had failed in the rescue because some zombies went berserk and ate some of his men. From what I understand, the survivors in Fortune only got lucky when someone got the news choppers to evacuate the area. As for Willamette, a lot of those survivors got lucky. If I recall, weren't they supposed to mop up the mall?"

"General Hemlock," General Lyons said. "I don't want to do this any more than you do, but some of those soldiers in that unit who were involved in the rescue attempt in Fortune City were lucky to make it out alive. One of the Sergeants, Michael Woo, and his subordinate, Matthew Kuss, were lucky enough to make it out alive. With all due respect, Boykin and Mason may have failed, but that doesn't mean we won't fail. While sometimes we may have let some people die, but that doesn't mean we have to in this situation."

Hemlock replied, "You know as well as I do that in any situation, letting hundreds, maybe thousands of people die. I have been out there in hellholes and I have seen good men die, as well as innocents die."

"Like I said, General Hemlock," Lyons said. "I am not going to argue, but we could make an exception in this situation. We can contact any naval ships or Coast Guard out there, or even some of our men, anybody to make the rescue attempt before the firebombing commences. If there's anybody left out there, so be it."

"I won't argue with you either," Hemlock said. "Besides, I have some other shit to worry about."

"I may also need to contact Governor Sonya Paddock for her to give us the green light about this," Lyons said. "I'm sure that she'll agree to it. She had little knowledge of the survivors until now."

Hemlock added, "You might be right. Paddock plans to run in 2016, so if we don't get anybody out of there, then it will look bad for her."

Lyons reached for the phone to make a few calls. As reluctant as he was to do this, he had to do the right thing. Besides, the governor hadn't heard from the mayor of the city. For all she knew, the mayor was caught up in the outbreak and didn't make it.

* * *

**BACK AT THE SAFE HOUSE**

Andy and Tammy lied in the bed that they were using and stared up at the ceiling.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Andy said.

"I can't wait either, baby," Tammy said. "But we have to see what else is going on. I feel that if we don't do anything soon, this whole state will be infested with zombies."

"I hear you, boo," Andy said. "We have to stop them before this whole state gets infected and then the rest of the country gets it. Who knows how far it will go? For all we know, the virus can spread into Mexico and Canada."

Both of them were in agreement that they needed to stop Simon, as well as the other people involved. There was one thing that Andy wondered when Simon tortured him. Though he was physically battered from the torture, he started to suspect that Simon was trying to rub it in his face about his involvement. But somehow, he didn't believe that Simon was that good of a mastermind. He may have probably convinced his higher-up to start the apocalypse, but he probably didn't have all the resources to start it. If anything, he felt that Simon bluffed. Even when Ricardo talked about him, it sounded like that guy was just cocky and all talk.

But then something else hit him.

"Hey, Tammy," Andy said. "I want to know something. Being that your dad is a therapist, when you and Simon were together, did your dad ever try to get into his head and figure out what his problem was?"

Tammy replied, "My dad was able to see that he was sick. I don't think it was a case of mental problems or what, but I guess that because he was born into a rich family with a lawyer for a dad, he thought he could get away with a lot of things. I know I was from a well-off family, but I wasn't a spoiled brat or anything like that. But he got worse as time went on. Such a shame, because his parents were nice people."

"Well, I have a feeling that this guy was trying so hard to prove that he was bad," Andy said. "He may have hurt me, but he doesn't have all the resources to start the outbreak like he said he would. He probably didn't have that much money for that contract on me."

At that point, Tammy started to see where her fiancé was coming from. It was clear to both of them that Simon was bad news, but one thing that Tammy knew that Simon suffered from was a superiority complex. He always wanted to be a bigger man than he actually was. He was a little overconfident in things, but at the end of the day, he thought he was more important than he actually was.

I know a way how to bring him down. Tammy thought.

Andy said, "I am also going to try to get that ring back from him."

"Andy," Tammy said. "Don't worry about the ring."

"You don't get it," Andy said. "That was my gift to you. I am going to get it back."

No matter what the situation was, Andy was determined to get that ring back from him. He was also determined to get back at that guy for torturing him. He saw that Simon appeared to enjoy inflicting pain on him. So now it was his turn.

Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door. Andy got up to open it.

"Ana, what's going on?" Andy said.

Ana said, "Bruce and I are going to check out that facility. I'm just letting you know this."

"Hey, we're coming along," Tammy said. "You'll need us on this. For all we know, there may be more zombies there and you'll need the support."

"It's getting more dangerous, guys," Ana said.

Andy added, "We're here to help you. We may not be special agents, but we have done our part out there. You have saved our asses a few times out there. We owe you big time for this."

"Okay, you two can come along," Ana said.

Downstairs, Agent Simpson was waiting for Ana to come back, but then his phone rang. He saw that it was a number that he didn't recognize.

"Hello?" Bruce said. "Wait, yes, this Agent Bruce Simpson of the FBI. Oh, okay, you're the governor of Florida. What? That's great! Listen, I will have to call you and General Lyons back for more about this. My partner and I have something to do. Bye."

He hung up the phone and then saw Ana, along with Andy and Tammy with her.

"I have good news," Simpson said. "It looks like we're going to get evacuated soon, sometime within the next 6-12 hours."

All three of them had looks of shock on their faces.

"That's great!" Ana said. "But we still need to save Brad and Maria."

"Okay, let's get going," Simpson said.

He didn't bother to question the couple's presence. They have been quite the help for them this whole time. It was the least they could do.

But it was now time to save their comrade and also see what else was going on.

Suddenly…

"Wait!" a voice said.

All four of them turned around. They saw Professor Logan standing there.

"If you're going to that lab, I must tell you that they have a lot of zombies walking around and that you won't last in there."

Andy went back inside to get the water bottle with the purple liquid in it. It wasn't about getting grabbed anymore. It was better that the zombies just don't pay them any mind.

"I also must tell you that my friend and I had found out about a liquid that they created to infect people," Logan said. "They inject people with it. There is a large tank of it inside that lab. Be careful."

"We will, professor," Simpson said.

Paul then stood in the background. He realized where they were going. He was going to try to follow them so that he could get more pictures and video of this lab.

**September 29th**

**6:15 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE FIREBOMBING:**

**17:44:23**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have already seen, I had yet another appearance of two major characters of Dead Rising lore. I put in Hemlock and Isabela, even though that was just a phone call. Lyons also finally made a physical appearance. The exchange between Hemlock and Lyons was supposed to show how corrupt they were, as they were seen in Dead Rising 3 and the movies, respectively.
> 
> Bet you didn't see that coming with the exchange between Walters and Mendoza, huh? Well, even though Mendoza had quite an influence on the outbreak, Walters was the mastermind behind it. Simon isn't far behind, but it was to also show how much of a scumbag Walters is.


	30. CASE: Project Transmission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy, Tammy, Ana, and Agent Simpson all band together to stop Walters and Simon, and to save Brad and Maria.

**September 29th**

**6:37 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE FIREBOMBING:**

**17:22:43**

It took them more than 20 minutes to get from the safe house to the building that was used as a lab.

For the two agents and the two civilians who have been of some help to them, it felt like when they got word about a lab in the city, it almost seemed too good to be true.

Why would the gang leader Ricardo tell Andy and Tammy about the factory that Phenotrans was using as a lab? Though he said that he didn't like Simon, usually lowlifes like that would refuse to tell people about any shady dealings going on.

But nonetheless, the four people decided to find out for themselves. As far as Bruce and Ana were concerned, this was their chance to bring down Mendoza, as Professor Logan let them know about how that pharmaceutical company was dealing with one of the FBI's most wanted. The drug lord may have had a lot of blood on his hands, but so did Phenotrans.

However, that company, while having committed some deplorable acts such as the Vegas outbreak and the Fortune City outbreak, as well as the Still Creek outbreak, it hadn't been proved that they were involved.

For a while, Bruce Simpson was mainly focused on finding and taking that drug lord to justice. That was the case he and Ana were involved in before the outbreak started. Then the outbreak began, and at first, he found himself involved in something that wasn't planned at first. Then it was said that there was a link, according to the scientist that they saved.

For Ana, this pushed her experience as a field agent a lot farther than she had imagined. She wasn't ready for anything like this, but she did what she could to survive and had shown that she was capable for things of this nature.

As for Andy, compared to two years prior when he was in the Fortune City outbreak, he became a lot more vigilant and had gained a lot of survival skills. Tammy, on the other hand, showed that she could survive based on instinct and also showed that she had skills that she didn't know she had, ranging from combat to leadership. Of course, some of them she learned from Andy.

Bruce, however, was ready to end everything that caused this outbreak and was more than ready to leave the city, but not without finishing the mission.

It was time to end this, but was it really the end?

Simpson pulled up as he parked the van. He looked up and noticed the building and it looked heavily guarded from the front. Many mercenaries were wielding assault rifles, while others were wielding blast frequency guns. Ana had experienced what it was like to be shot by one of those things. Though it didn't fire anything lethal, it did cause her to get dizzy and then to vomit.

The location looked like it was a small factory in the middle of North Shore. It was close to the beach area, close to the area where Tammy found the two clowns and the surfer. To her, it was déjà vu. Except this time, it was close to Palm Tree Beach, just a little further away from the boardwalk with the mini-amusement park.

The building didn't look that big, either. But there was only one way to find out what was inside.

Simpson looked around and surmised that it would be a bad idea for them to just go in with guns blazing. Considering how guarded it was, if they were to go in through the front door, chances were high that they would be Swiss cheese. The zombies had little importance at the moment, as all four of them drank the substance that Andy had made. It was supposed to repulse the zombies from even approaching them. However, it won't last long, but that didn't mean Andy didn't pack extra just in case.

Simpson looked towards the couple, "Hey, I think maybe you two should go back to base."

"What? Why?" Andy said.

"Look, you and your girlfriend may have gone through a lot of shit," Simpson said. "But this might be something a lot more dangerous than what you two have dealt with."

Andy added, "With all due respect, sir, but I have almost been bitten, I have been tortured, I have nearly been killed on different occasions. I think I know what danger looks like. Besides, you and Ana can't go up against a bunch of guards alone. You'll need some backup."

Tammy then jumped in. "If you don't want us here, I get that, but you two need some kind of help. Besides, that girl that those guys kidnapped must trust us more than anybody else."

She then wondered why he didn't just ask some of his fellow agents to join in on this mission. But really, she was right about the part of Maria trusting her and Andy, and maybe Ana over anybody else. She could have asked Sheryl and Erin, but then she saw the size of the place. The guards could easily find them.

"Tammy's right," Ana said. "Brad is also in trouble right now, but Maria is the one who we really need to find. That guy Walters has some planned for her. I know it."

Simpson sighed at this. As reluctant as he was to have the couple with them on this, it was a fact that they have faced death in all the hell that came towards them. Then again, he was reluctant in letting Andy help them at first when he was mainly tasked with finding survivors in the city.

"Okay, you two go and find a way to get in," Simpson said. "Ana and I will find another way. Just stay out of sight, okay?"

_You don't need to tell me twice._ Andy thought.

The pairs split up and went in opposite directions. Ana and Simpson entered through the left side. They saw the guards were preoccupied with the zombies. Simpson noticed that the zombies were not paying attention to him and his partner. He was intrigued at how that drink worked.

From up ahead, he noticed a guard with his back towards him and his partner. He was also a few feet away from a door on the side. The two made a break to get inside. Ana allowed her superior to go in first. She looked to her right and saw some gas-influenced zombies approaching towards her, except they passed right by her. She turned around and saw that they went right for the guard who was distracted. One of them bit the guard while he screamed at the top of his lungs. Other zombies pulled the limbs from his body and bit away at them. So much bloodshed occurred as the zombies were eating this man alive.

On the other side, Andy led the way while Tammy followed him. Both of them were armed with baseball bats. Andy had his barbed wire bat, while Tammy had a spiked bat that she had built while they were on their break after bringing the survivors back to base.

They turned around and noticed two water guns lying around from a distance. Being that they were close to the beach, it would seem that some people, kids probably, were squirting each other with those water guns. Andy remembered that weapon he made a few days prior, while Tammy thought of something, especially after being in the presence of that clown Callie MacIntyre.

The clown had a special type of weapon that her late brother used. But then she had to see something for herself. An idea had hit her.

"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Andy said.

"Don't worry, baby," Tammy replied. "I have to see something."

The couple knew that the effects of the drink weren't going to last, so they had to prefer themselves for combat.

Tammy took off while Andy took off as well. They went to look for a couple of things they needed to connect to the water guns. Andy saw that his weapon worked like a charm, but Tammy needed to see if her idea will work.

The couple noticed a couple of trucks on the street. One was a gas truck, similar to the kind that Andy saw before. A jerry can was seen right by the truck. Tammy saw a fire truck. She even saw some zombified firemen. She went towards the fire truck. What was she looking for?

A few firefighter zombies stood there. The effects of the drink were still there. She reached for a fire extinguisher that she saw near her. She picked it up and then emitted nitrogen towards some of the zombies and saw that they froze into ice.

It worked. She thought. Something had hit her about fire extinguishers freezing zombies into ice. Whether it was seeing someone using it, reading Tape It or Die, or just out of instinct, she wasted no time in breaking off the nozzle from the extinguisher and connected the tank to where you put a bottle on for the water weapon. She connected the nozzle of the extinguisher to the nozzle of the water gun.

_I guess being a girl in shop classes back in the day paid off._ She thought to herself. She had built her own snowball cannon.

Andy connected the jerry can to his water gun and taped it to it. He had a roll of duct tape with him. He also brought a lighter with him. He lit the lighter in front of the nozzle of his makeshift flamethrower and emitted a flame. Then he looked up and saw his lady heading towards him.

"Look what I made," Tammy said.

"Holy shit, what is that?" Andy said.

"It's a snowball cannon," Tammy said. "It's kind of like that weapon that one girl clown was using."

"Listen, we have to get inside now," Andy said.

Much to their surprise, there were no guards by the side door. No idea why, but it was time for them to get to the bottom of this.

But they weren't completely ready to get inside just yet. The couple realized that they couldn't carry both weapons that they each had. They set their bats aside in case. That way they'll remember where they left them should they go back and get them.

They went inside soon after. Right when they walked in through the door, a couple of vehicles had pulled up. One was a pickup truck. A man with a camera and a scientist had exited the car. They were Paul and Professor Logan.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, mate?" Paul said.

Professor Logan replied, "I have to put a stop to this. I saw my best friend die in front of me. If I die in there, at least it will be for what I believe in."

The two went ahead and walked up to find a way to get inside.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

In the office of the laboratory, Mr. Walters was sitting in his desk with Mr. Mendoza right in front of him. Though Walters admitted to Mendoza's face about the use of his financial backing, they maintain their business relationship for the time being, or at least tried to.

Mendoza was livid over having been used for this operation, but in a lot of ways, Walters was right. Besides, Mendoza knew that he had little influence in the city anymore and had very little support under his belt. If he knew what happened to the Caribbean Boyz hours prior, or at least the leader, he would realize that there was no one to turn to anymore.

"I hope you don't think that this was a major betrayal, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "Besides, just remember that if the feds catch you, either you end up in Guantanamo Bay, or you'll end up dead. Besides, what would happen if it was announced that you were involved in an act of terrorism?"

"Like I said before…Robert," the way the drug lord enunciated the businessman's first name was with so much venom in his voice. "I may have done a lot of terrible things in my time, but they were for business reasons. I don't kill for pleasure."

"You think I enjoy killing people?" Walters said. "What I have done was necessary. You didn't have to kill anybody."

The way Mendoza looked at him was with so much derision. He couldn't believe the level of hypocrisy coming out of the businessman's mouth. He may have been involved in this outbreak, but when he found out that any money he had left, which was still a lot, was going towards the funds of Phenotrans' next project, he had every right to be angry at him.

Walters then looked on his computer and went to a website for UBN News and found a report that was streaming.

The news anchor started talking about the coverage on the outbreak.

_Hours ago, we had received word that there are survivors found in a safe house in Palm Tree City. For the past day or so, General Lyons had announced the firebombing of the city for September 30th. But he had been speaking with federal agents about giving the green light for rescuing the survivors soon._

_Florida governor Sonya Paddock had released a statement just a few moments ago. It reads: "I will allow some of the military units out on the ocean to extract the survivors from the safe house within the next 6-12 hours. I will contact them to get them very soon, at least by the end of the night. Then the firebombing will commence sometime in the afternoon tomorrow."_

_Also, the search for notorious drug lord Carlos Mendoza is still going on. It was said that he was seen in South Florida, but no one knows where._

Walters wasn't sure if he should be pleased or shocked at what he just heard. The fact that there were a lot of survivors still in the city was a shock to him. He was certain that a lot of his men, along with the gang members and some of Mendoza's goons had been able to eradicate a lot of them.

A knock was heard at the door. "Come in," Mr. Walters said.

Through the door walked in Agent S and Simon. The short-haired female agent let it out with what she had to say.

"Hey, boss, Simon here has told me about how there a lot of survivors in a safe house," Agent S said.

"Yes," Walters paused. "I just found out about this on the news." He turned his attention towards Simon. Even under the sunglasses that he was wearing, the look of anger was clear.

"It appears that there are more survivors left in the city," Walters said. "The news had stated that there will be a rescue sometime within the next six to twelve hours."

"Wait, what?" Simon tried to cover up his knowledge about this, especially because he had been in that house earlier. "What are you talking about?"

"Someone had submitted some photos to the military about some people in the safe house," Walters said. "I thought your mission was to eliminate any living and breathing person out there, or at least try to infect them."

Simon tried to look at the monitor to see if there was any evidence, but the article under the video had stated that they will not show any video or photo footage of any survivors in the safe house.

"Did you know anything about this?" Walters said.

Walters knew that Simon worked as a double-agent with the ZDC and Phenotrans, but somehow he got the idea that he withheld the information of any living being in the city.

"Well, wasn't there talk about the government bombing the city?" Simon replied. "Besides, by the end of tomorrow, this whole city will be finished. All of the survivors would have been gone anyway."

"Yes, but now there is talk of a rescue," Walters said. "Wasn't the plan always for us to infect the city to drive up the sales for Zombrex and then have the government eliminate any shred of evidence of any survivors? Besides, I thought you handled all the shit with the survivors out there for the government to green light the bombing."

"Hey, I was talking with them," Simon answered. "I told them that I was a ZDC agent who was looking for any survivors and told the military about the lack of living citizens out there."

"Well, someone at the ZDC had said they never got the information," Walters said. "Plus, your former partner didn't die."

"But he is infected," Simon interrupted.

"But he got lucky because someone came and saved him," Walters said. "Either way, we have to do something about those survivors."

"Okay, okay, you got me," Simon suspected that his boss was onto him. He was certain that his boss knew that Simon knew about the survivors all along, even though he had a point that even if he didn't tell his boss, the firebombing would have taken care of that problem.

"I know where they are," Simon said. "Agent S and I can go in there and blast them."

"Wait, no," Agent S said. "That might be a good idea on paper, but it's too easy. The military will see the bodies with bullet wounds and stuff. I have a better idea. We have to make it look like an accident."

Walters turned his attention to the female agent. "You know, Agent S, you might be onto something."

Walters paused for a bit. "But there is one thing that I am curious about. I had heard that the bodies of Tyler, as well as three of our best girls were found. I wonder what happened with them." He then looked towards Simon. "I also heard about how you put out a hit on some guy and on some girl."

Simon quickly responded, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really now?" Walters said. "I had assigned three of my best female assassins to infect that convention, but then somehow I got word that they were told that two people were going to be there and that more money would come their way if they took those two in or out. Also, I wonder who managed to kill Tyler. Whoever did that must be good."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Simon said. No matter how much he tried to talk his way out of it, he saw that his boss wasn't messing around.

"Well, whoever it was," Walters said. "That guy has shown some kind of initiative. I don't approve of such actions, but I have to give that guy some props."

Simon stood there with so much confusion on his face. The fact that his boss was giving him flack about the hit he put on his rival and his ex, and somewhat praising his motives in the process. Despite trying to cover up the knowledge, he realized that those two are still out there. He hadn't heard from the gang members in a bit. Could those two have gotten to them? It was amazing to him that a couple of civilians could best some gang members.

"Mr. Walters," said a Spanish-accented voice. Walters turned his attention to Mendoza.

"I am tired of waiting," Mendoza said. "Where are your men? I have to get out of here soon."

"All in good time, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "They'll be here soon."

* * *

Back in the laboratory, Ana and Bruce looked around to see if they could find anything or anybody. Through Ana's eyes, she saw some guards with blast frequency guns trying to keep zombies at bay. Some of them were even wearing these gigantic yellow things on their arms. Some were also wielding electric prods. Holding off zombies was definitely not easy for them.

_Damn, how long have they had this lab up?_ Ana thought. Though the outbreak had started just a mere few days before, it seemed like this company had this lab up for weeks, maybe even a month. It seemed like they were conducting experiments in the city for a bit, but the camp in the swamp was only put up not too long before.

She noticed a big harvester on the ceiling of the lab.

"Bruce," Ana said. "Let's split. I'll go one way. You go another way."

Simpson replied, "Ana, I'm the one who makes the call here. Besides, you're still green."

"Bruce, as your subordinate, I have been through so much the past few days that I have an idea on what's going on. I know I'm inexperienced, but you have to trust me on this. I have to find that girl."

Unbeknownst to the two agents, there were a couple of other uninvited guests who joined in on their fun. Ana and Bruce looked around and noticed two familiar faces. One was Paul, who had his camera with him. The other was Professor Logan, who looked around to try to find a way to get to the office up above.

"I think I have something I need to do anyway," Simpson said. "Go look for Park and that girl."

Simpson went his own way to talk to the Aussie former journalist and the scientist. He had a bad feeling about the scientist more, being that in the video that Ana filmed had displayed some gruesome images of the other scientist being force-fed a larva that caused him to turn into a zombie. If Ana hadn't intervened then, he would have suffered the same fate.

Ana went her own way, but she sneaked around to avoid suspicion. With so many walking rotting corpses around, it was going to be hard for her to try to walk around without getting bitten. She had to think of something.

She started to walk slowly and move her head around along with her hands. She walked like a zombie to try to blend in somehow, even with her fresh and tan skin not matching with the rotting flesh of the walking cadavers.

Shockingly enough, it was working. The zombies didn't pay any attention to her. She wasn't sure if the effects from the drink were still applied, but she tried to blend in regardless.

While she walked like a zombie, she looked up and noticed two men standing by a window. One was Walters, the same man that she had seen before at the camp and when Brad got bit. The other was someone she didn't expect.

_Mendoza? Oh my god, he's here._ She thought. She realized that the man she and Bruce were after was in the same place. But she knew that she couldn't just go in there and go after him. This place was guarded, not to mention swarming with the undead.

So what could she do? She continued to blend in by walking like a zombie. Out of her left peripheral, she saw that same object that one of the Phenotrans operatives was wearing on his arm. She put her pistol away and slowly went towards that thing. She put her hand on the grip and saw how heavy it was.

At that moment, a few zombies had turned their attentions towards her. It seemed at that point the effects from that drink had worn off. She saw her right arm and then swung it towards one of the zombies and then a zombie was sent flying backwards on impact from what appeared to be a blast. The weight of the object caused her to hit the ground, which then caused some zombies to drop from the blast after hitting the ground.

She looked at the yellow thing on her arm and chuckled in surprise and relief.

* * *

Andy and Tammy walked into the facility with their makeshift guns in hand.

Both of them saw the zombies roaming around. At that point, the effects from their drink started to wear off. Lucky for both of them, Andy had his water bottle with that stuff in it in case they needed it.

"Okay, Tammy, let's look for Maria and Brad," Andy said.

They walked around and looked around. They had noticed that there were some people in the lab. Some of them looked like they were wearing hazmat suits and handling zombies with prods and blast frequency guns.

Tammy saw a few zombies coming her way. She looked up and sprayed out of her snowball cannon and saw those zombies freeze. She sprayed the same substance towards a few other zombies and they froze. Few of them even shattered as well.

Andy moved a little further from his lady and then quickly squeezed the trigger and a flame emitted from his makeshift flamethrower. Several zombies burned to a crisp after getting immolated from the flames.

From above, someone looked through the window of the office and saw the flames. That person turned out to be Simon, who then turned his attention towards his boss.

"Um, sir, we have a problem," Simon said.

Mr. Walters then got up, along with Agent S and Mr. Mendoza.

"We have some intruders in the place," Simon then took a closer look and realized who they were. He saw that they were armed with their weapons.

Walters walked up and then looked where Simon was pointing.

"Hey, I see some other intruders," Agent S said as she pointed in the direction of where a young Mexican-American woman wielding a yellow object on her arm, as well as a middle-aged man trying to keep a low profile, or at least trying to.

However, Mendoza seemingly recognized the older agent down there. It seemed like he may have crossed paths with him before.

Just then, Mendoza made eye contact with the agent as he looked up. Simpson couldn't believe what he was seeing at that point when they made eye contact. He wasn't sure what to go after at that moment. He then turned around and couldn't find Ana anywhere. He wanted to go after his prized bull, but there were other issues at stake at the moment.

Meanwhile, Ana made perfect use of her new weapon of choice. She kept on mowing through zombies by hitting the ground with that impact hammer-thing. Out of left field, she felt a shock to her back. The shock caused her to fall to the ground and release the weapon from her hand. She turned her body around and noticed Simon standing over her with an electric prod.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," Simon said. "It looks like we have an intruder. I think my boss would like to have a word with you."

"Hold it right there, asshole!" a male voice yelled.

Simon looked up and saw Andy coming up with his weapon drawn. Tammy came in right then as well with her weapon drawn.

"Well, how convenient," Simon said. "Put your weapons away. You think that those weapons will work?"

"Want a bet?" Andy said and then turned around as Tammy moved a bit away from him and then fired out some flames from his weapon.

Simon was shocked yet impressed at the sight of that weapon, but he had a trick up his sleeve. He got out a blast frequency gun and fired shots towards the trio. All of whom got dizzy from the blast.

"I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?" Simon said and then laughed.

All three people were dizzy from the blast and had dropped their weapons. No one knew what he was planning at that moment. One could guess that their incapacitation would lead to some of the zombie handlers and mercenaries to gun them down, except he was all alone at that point.

However, Andy, Tammy, and Ana were on the ground and noticed that zombies started to surround them. Some of which were the gas-powered zombies. It was also past 7 PM and the zombies became more aggressive. They were screwed at the moment.

They all didn't expect to meet their end right then. They were ready to seal their fates. They were still incapacitated from the sound wave of the blast frequency gun to even get up and try to fight them off. Some of them were really close that if they were to rise, it would be dinner time for the zombies.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

All three of them looked up and saw bloodshed from the heads of the zombies that surrounded them. Tammy turned around and looked up. Andy then did the same thing, as did Ana.

From a distance walked a group of Haitian people led by Nadia, the same woman who Tammy had met before.

"Nadia, what a surprise," Tammy said. "Wait, you didn't go back to the safe house. How did you find us?"

"I remembered that exact address that Ricardo said before he became a zombie," she said and then extended her hand to help Tammy get up. Her fellow soldiers helped Andy and Ana get up.

"Well, thank you," Tammy said.

"I am here to take out Mendoza," Nadia said who then looked up and saw him through the window of the office. "I'm going to get him."

Ana interrupted, "Wait, we need to look for some other people. Plus, this place is heavily guarded. You guys need to be careful."

"We will, young lady," Nadia said.

"Okay and my name is Ana," she said.

It was going to be tough. The trio still hasn't found Brad and Maria yet. Where could they be? This place was bigger than they thought it would be.

September 29th

7:31 PM

TIME UNTIL FIREBOMBING:

16:28:56

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With them infiltrating the lab, it felt like the case in Dead Rising 2 called "What Lies Beneath," mixed in with some elements from Case West, especially with some of the weapons thrown in there.
> 
> I also felt like I needed to bring Professor Logan and Paul into the mix. After all, they had roles in the story, but didn't have much of a presence for a while.


	31. Getting to the Bottom

**September 29th**

**7:36 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE FIREBOMBING:**

**16:23:49**

The trio, along with Nadia and her crew, walked through the hordes of zombies in the floor level part of the lab. It was a matter of luck that their extra support just came in at the right time.

Now was the time to look for Simon. He left them to die just moments earlier, but in a matter of coincidence, luck, or just good timing, a few gang members who appeared to be rebels just happened to be there to take down who they believe was the mastermind behind everything.

Andy, Tammy, and Ana all picked up the weapons that they were using. Andy went for his flamethrower, Tammy went for her snowball cannon, and Ana picked up her impact hammer. She figured that this would be useful against more zombies that went their way.

Nadia and her fellow soldiers just had their firearms and knives to work with. Nadia signaled to Tammy that she and her soldiers will go their own way. She had plans of her own at that moment.

"Wait, Nadia," Tammy said. "Afterwards, please come back to the safe house with us. It will be safe over there and we should be rescued soon."

"Miss Tammy, I have to ask, is Ogoun over there?" Nadia said, to which Tammy responded with a nod. "Okay, I'll go. I want to see him. But we need to handle our business."

"Okay," Tammy said. The trio went their separate way to look for Simon, and also Brad and Maria. Who knows where they could have gone?

Zombies went towards Andy, who then turned around and signaled to the ladies that they should back away a bit. "It's about to get hot in here," he said.

Like before, a horde of zombies, with an estimate of 10 slowly walking towards him, he sprayed a large flame towards them. If their flesh wasn't rotting already, it was getting worse for them as their festering flesh was seared from the fire and the zombies were now burning to a crisp.

Tammy sprayed towards a few zombies coming towards her, some of which had frozen from the nitrogen. She even shot at other zombies, but some of the already-frozen had shattered from the other attacks. Ana turned towards her and a half-smirk went on her face.

With there being other frozen zombies, she approached Tammy and said, "Back up, I have an idea."

Tammy backed away a tad. Ana went right in front in the frozen zombies and then hammered the ground with her weapon. The frozen zombies had shattered from the impact, as well as sent a few live zombies flying. Tammy stood there with a look of amazement.

Andy had regrouped with the two women and noticed the shattered zombie remains on the ground. He, too, was amazed by what just happened.

"Come on, let's go find Brad and Maria," Ana said.

"Wait, we need to find Simon," Andy said.

"We need to look for those two first, it can't be good what they have planned for her," Ana said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Brad and Maria had made their escape from the storage closet that was used as a makeshift cell. The only thing that was on Brad's mind was just to keep his eye on Maria. She was the primary target for Phenotrans in their plan for starting another outbreak. If anything, if she were to start the next outbreak, then it would cause more people to try buying more Zombrex again. That was what happened when Fortune's End happened, but because controversy sparked after dealing with that former motocross champion and also that photojournalist, they had started the outbreak in Palm Tree City and planned to start another one very soon.

Brad didn't want that to happen. He was still a man of the law. That was why he was a part of the Zombie Defense and Control. He was a man of his job, which was why he didn't want to let his anger towards his former partner cloud his judgment.

He looked around to see if there were any zombies or guards in the area.

"Come on, this way!" He said, pointing his left. The young woman followed him. She was wielding a crowbar that she found inside the storage room. She had to use something to defend herself. It was different from using a sniper rifle, especially when a lot of the threats were right up close and personal.

Brad had his pistol to use. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. The two stormed in the direction where Brad led. The main thing he wanted to do was infiltrate, but Maria's safety was more important. The real question what was they would do once they were home free. The only thing he could do was take her back to the safe house. But what he could do after that? He wanted nothing more than to take down this operation, so the only option was to just come back and do his job.

Brad led the way some more down a hallway. He then backed to a wall and took a peek around the corner.

"Come on, follow me," Brad said. "I will get you out of here."

"Wait," Maria said. "You go and I'll stay."

"Listen, I don't have time for this," Brad said. "I intentionally got captured to get information on their operation. I know what they want to use you for, but I can't leave you behind."

"I just want to you to know something," Maria said. "If I get infected or anything like that, please just leave me or kill me."

"I can't do that," Brad said.

"You don't understand," Maria said. "I've been wanted by these people for a long time and I'm tired of running."

Brad replied. "I can't let this happen. If they catch you, they'll infect you and then they plan to start their next outbreak. They plan to do it very soon."

Maria did not want to believe what she had just heard, but she had to listen. She would prefer it that if she did get infected, then it would be best to give her a mercy killing. The only thing that she could lose in the process were Erin and Sheryl, but even then, it would be for their protection.

But she had to do what he said, because the last thing either of them wanted was for another outbreak to start.

Up ahead, Brad saw an opening to head into what appeared to be the main floor of the lab. The two walked out into the surface, but suddenly Maria felt a shock to the left side of her torso. Brad noticed and then turned to his right and was pistol-whipped by someone's handgun. It wasn't just someone. It was Simon.

"Sorry, Brad," Simon said in a condescending tone. "But we have some rules to follow."

Simon was ready to pop Brad in the head but from a distance, Simon looked up and saw a man with a camera. He was wearing a leather jacket.

He looked to Brad. "You guy lucky again, but I'm not done with you." Simon then looked to the photographer, who turned out to be Paul and yelled, "Hey, get over here! You don't belong here!"

Paul put his camera and tried to run away but then two other guards shocked him with prods and then took him. Brad noticed the photographer being taken away, as well as Maria being taken away by Simon and the other guard who shocked her.

From the distance, he saw Ana, along with Andy and Tammy, walking towards him.

"Brad? Brad, are you okay?" Ana said.

Brad didn't know how to answer that, except he did have one thing to say. "They took her."

Ana replied, "Who?"

"They took Maria somewhere," Brad said. "I also saw them take this photographer guy."

Ana and Andy then looked at each other, and then Tammy looked at the two.

"Oh shit, are you talking about Paul?" Andy said.

"I don't know, but he looked like he was taking pictures," Brad said.

"I think I know who you're talking about," Ana said. "Simpson and I saw him here earlier. I think he's trying to get some more evidence about all of this."

Out of nowhere, Simpson came up to them. "Hey, what's going on here?"

Brad replied, "Torres told me something about a photographer being here. Also, Gates and others took that girl Maria."

"Well, I'll be damned," Bruce said. "If that's not bad enough, I think I saw Professor Logan here. We have to find them. I also saw where Mendoza might be."

"I saw him, too," Ana said. "But now is not the time. Brad and I will go look for Maria." She looked towards the couple. "You two should go look for Paul."

Bruce intervened. "Ana, I know you said it's not the time to get Mendoza, but this could be our chance. I'll go look for him. I think that one guy from that video is with him right now. We must not let this slip by."

Everyone all agreed to this. They all went on their separate ways to try to complete this mission.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

In the office upstairs, Robert Walters remained in the presence of Carlos Mendoza, whose patience was wearing thin of having to wait for an update of the prison break of Mendoza's father.

When Walters admitted right to his face that he practically used him for funds, Mendoza was livid about it. It seemed that this entire time, Phenotrans had only needed the funds to raise money for equipment and research for a possible cure of the zombie virus.

Mendoza felt like nothing more than a pawn in this scheme, especially with lots of people dying out in the city. Even people who were not affected by the virus died at the hands of the undead, as well as living people mopping up any survivors to eliminate any trace of evidence.

"I hope you don't think that we screwed you in any way, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "As a businessman, sometimes you have to make sacrifices and scramble your way to success, even if it means breaking someone's trust. But I assure you, I am a man of my word."

Mendoza didn't want to listen at that point. Walters had a point before that Mendoza had little power and influence on the city anymore. Because he was one of the FBI's Most Wanted, it was only a matter of time until some agents catch him on the vicinity and take him in it, despite there being a lot of zombies out on the streets.

"I just want you to know one thing," Walters paused. "Just know that none of this shit that happened was personal. Except I must ask you, do you really think that you'll be able to get out of here IF your father gets here? You're not untouchable like you were in the late 1990s when you took over your father's business after he got locked up. This isn't the 1980s, when there was a huge drug war in South Florida. I've done my homework. Your father was the one Cuban gangster in the middle of a war with Colombian and Bolivian drug lords. He wanted to make a name for himself."

Mendoza sat there in silence while he listened to the man speak.

"It was hard being a small fish in a big pond, but he managed to rise in the ranks," Walters said. "But then he got arrested and is sentenced to death row. You tried to hold down the fort. Several years in the pen, you wanted to do your father proud. You did the best you could, except you couldn't keep your hands clean."

Just then, a cellphone on the desk had rung. Walters had picked up.

"Hello," Walters said. "Okay, bring those two in. Go take the girl somewhere. I need to have a nice little chat with Professor Logan." He then looked towards Mendoza. "Excuse me, Mr. Mendoza. Will you please step outside for a little bit? It seems like we have another problem on our hands."

Mendoza silently walked out the door. He had a scowl on his face. It was no secret that he was manipulated into helping Phenotrans on their operation. Something even told him that they weren't getting his father out of prison after all.

He walked along the balcony overlooking everything with his two bodyguards accompanying him. From below, Simpson looked up and thought it was his chance to finally catch him.

A couple of younger operatives were seen bringing in a couple of men into Walters's office.

Inside the office, Walters stood before Simon and Agent S, who had brought Paul and Professor Logan into the office.

"Well, I never thought I would see you again," Walters said to Logan. "You got lucky when you left the camp after I had turned your best friend and colleague into a zombie. I also noticed that you took the flash drive that contained some important information. I even saw that you escaped earlier with that one girl. Someone informed me that she was a fed or something. The question I have right now is why did you come back?"

Logan replied, "Don't you think that you're getting a little carried away with this operation? I have been informed that you guys were spreading the virus in various parts of the city. First the beach area, then you went ahead and infected the downtown and North Shore area, as well as Little Santiago and Little Port-Au-Prince?"

"Oh shut up, what made you take the moral high ground all of a sudden?" Walters said. "You know damn well that Ms. Mallon and Ms. Ingot don't tolerate failure. You and Professor Edwards were sticking your noses into our business deal with our client, who is standing outside. Besides, what possessed you to try to blow the whistle? An attack of the conscience? Why all of a sudden? Besides, you were involved in a lot of this. So don't act like you're innocent."

"Look at all the deaths you have been causing, it led to you guys unleashing the harvesters and the gas to turn people into zombies out there," Logan said. "We couldn't handle it anymore. We also didn't think that you would sink so low into helping out a wanted criminal."

"Shut the fuck up!" Walters said. "You don't know what we were planning with that guy. You and Edwards _willingly_ took part in all of these experiments, whether it was in the Fortune City outbreak or anything like that, you had a part in all of these outbreaks just as much as all of us did! And now you act like what we're doing is wrong? You and your friend had been collecting your large salary and providing us with your invaluable technical expertise." Walters paused for a bit. "Invaluable, but not _irreplaceable_. Look where your best friend ended up once he decided to blow the whistle."

Logan sat there in silence. It was hard for him to respond to that. But one thing was for sure was that he was ready to accept his fate, as he was willing to die for what he believed in, even if he was involved in all of the chaos that had ravaged the entire city for a few days.

Walters continued, "Phenotrans has been in trouble since Fortune City. We had grown ever since we got a valuable asset to our company but since someone tried to expose us, we had to find a way to get ourselves back to where we were before. What we've been doing is for the greater good, to help the need for zombie treatment. We will continue to release the bees, and if it means vagrants, prisoners, and the pathetic occupants of a few bastions of filth like those found in this vice-riddled state need to be sacrificed as a result, then so be it."

Walters got closer to Logan. Paul just sat there in silence but with blatant discomfort. Walters was not done with what he had to say.

"The unclean masses need Zombrex to protect themselves from the zombie plague, and we need zombies to manufacture it for them. It may be a vicious cycle, but that's the way of life, isn't it? Survival of the fittest. Something I should think an individual of your, how should I say, scientific acumen would appreciate. Though there is one thing I should ask. Were any other associates at the camp involved in this little scheme that you and Edwards were a part of? Any other _parties_ to your treachery?"

Logan responded, "No, it was just us two. No one else was involved. And listen to me. I know I was a part of this. I am not denying that, but I can't believe that you would sink so low to help out a wanted criminal. Were we really losing money? I mean we still have been making some money. Maybe not as much as before, but we weren't going under or anything like that."

"Relax, he still thinks we're releasing his father from prison," Walters said. "We still need to hear from our men about what we were really doing. But now that you know so much, I am afraid I will have to dispose of you. Agent S!" He said to the female agent, who then approached the scientist and pointed her pistol to the back of his head.

"Wait!" Logan said. "Before you kill me, there is one thing that you need from me." He reached for the pocket in his coat and handed him the drive. "Besides, I was already one step ahead of you. I had disabled the harvester in the lab. You're going to need me if I have to restart it."

Agent S put her gun down, while Mr. Walters stood there deep in thought. Professor Logan had a point. Though he betrayed the company, it seemed that Logan had a lot of knowledge about the harvesting of the special bees that they were going to unleash.

"Okay, we'll keep you alive…for now," Walters said and then he turned his attention towards Paul. "By the way, I know you. You live over by the swamp, don't you?"

Unbeknownst to Walters and everyone else, Logan had a different plan than he let on. If only they knew what it was. The harvester wasn't disabled like he said it was.

Paul responded in his Australian accent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"If we had known before, we could have paid you to keep your mouth shut," Walters said. "Some of my men saw you and your dog take off in your truck. Now I wasn't sure where you were going. None of my fucking business, but now it seems that there had been something on the news about our operation by the swamp."

Outside the door, Simpson knelt near a crack in a window. He had been recording this all along.

"It seems that a lot of video and pictures were sent to a blog and the news," Walters said.

Simpson heard that and thought to himself "what?" It was clear that some of the truth had been stretched when they talked last.

"I know what you guys are up to and I gave some of those videos and pictures to the feds," Paul said. "Good luck trying to take some of the evidence."

"Good point, but I have an idea up my sleeve," Mr. Walters said, and then grabbed the camera from the Aussie. He turned it on and looked through the feed and saw some shots of the lab, which were very recent.

"You're a good photographer," Walters said. "But what are you trying to do? Trying to be like Frank West or something?"

"Just trying to expose the world what a bunch of frauds you are," Paul said. "Besides, it was only fair that I show the world what scum you really are."

"I know it's not easy being a reporter in this day and age," Walters said. "But what was your goal? Were you going to write a book about this whole thing like Frank West or even Stacey Forsythe? I read both of their books. Great reads, but most of what was said was bullshit. Shit, I even read reports about the Vegas outbreak. But you know what? There wasn't any confirmation as to who it was behind those outbreaks."

Outside, Simpson looked around the corner and saw Mendoza walking towards the door and Simpson quickly hid behind the corner but peeked a little bit to avoid being seen. He noticed his two bodyguards with him. They started to twitch a bit and then dropped their weapons. Mendoza did not bother to look back as he stormed right into the office.

"Mr. Walters, you son of a bitch!" Mendoza screamed.

"What's wrong, Mr. Mendoza?" Walters said.

"I heard what you said," Mendoza said. "You never intended to get my father out of prison like you said, did you?!"

Just then, Walters's cellphone rang. He picked up

"Hello?" Walters said. "Right, thank you for telling me. Just need to take care of a few loose ends." He looked right at Mendoza.

Walters still had the news feed on his computer. He had a good idea what the report was about, so he had turned the monitor in the direction of his client.

_This just in, there have been reports that a riot has occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami. But from what it sounds like, it isn't just any riot. Some witnesses have reported that some inmates have turned into zombies or been killed by zombies._

Mendoza's eyes got bigger once he heard the report. His father was an inmate at that same prison. He looked at Walters with a fiery scowl.

"I am so sorry that it came to this, Mr. Mendoza," Walters said. "My men did the best they could."

"Fuck you! You manipulated me into paying you money for your fucking operation and you had the audacity to boast about it to my face!" Mendoza yelled. "I saw what you did to some of my men. Some of my men are down and have now become zombies, as well as my bodyguards outside."

Without hesitation, Mendoza stormed and swung his right hand to Walters's face. Walters turned his face from the impact and then his shades fell from his eyes.

Mendoza wasn't done, as he reached inside his coat to take out a pistol. Suddenly a gunshot was heard and saw a blood stain on his jacket and then fell to knees as Agent S stood there with her gun drawn.

"I just have one more job to do before I take off," Walters said. "I know you own or owned the Hotel Caribbean. Being that you had that as a front for your…illegal activity. However, I am under the impression that you have some money stored there from your operation."

Agent S still held him at gunpoint and Simon joined in.

"You see, these two could finish you off right now, unless you tell me where I can find the safe," Walters said.

Mendoza looked up at Walters while he lied there and then spit blood right to his face. Walters laughed.

"You know, I admire you for all of this, you got balls," Walters said. "But you know I'm right about what I said. You have nothing anymore. You don't have power. We took care of the rest of your men, including those street thugs that you had working for your organization. We'll let you live if you tell us where the safe is. But it's only a matter of time until someone catches you or you die here. You're not getting out of here, either way."

Mendoza had no choice but to crack. Walters was right. There was no way out for him.

"My personal safe is in my personal penthouse suite," Mendoza said. "It's behind a painting. There is another safe in my office on the first floor. It's behind a liquor cabinet. The code for the penthouse safe is 8120. The code for the office safe is 0521."

"Thank you, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Walters said.

With Walters's attention right on Mendoza, Paul quickly grabbed his camera and then quickly ran out of the office.

Walters looked up, as did Simon and Agent S.

"Stop him!" Walters yelled.

Agent S was ready to go forth but Simon stopped her and insisted that he take care of the problem. Right when Paul was out the door, Simpson had called for his attention. He turned to his right and went that way.

"What happened?" Simpson said.

"They took us and were ready to kill us, but then that guy walked in," Paul said.

"Just get out of here, I'll take it from here," Simpson said.

Paul nodded his head and then went forth. Simpson looked and saw that Simon was trying to head towards him. Oddly enough, he didn't notice the veteran agent right there and just passed by him. Walters, Logan, and Agent S had exited the office.

"You better not be fucking bullshitting me," Walters said to Logan. "Let's go."

The three then went on their way. Bruce seized the opportunity to go into the office where Mendoza lied there, bleeding from the gunshot wound. Around the same time, Nadia had entered the room. Simpson looked at her like he wondered who she was.

"Got you now, Mendoza," Simpson said and pointed his gun at him. "I can patch you up and then I'll take you in."

"Bruce Simpson, I…remember you," Mendoza slowly said. "You…were…always determined to take me down. But I'm afraid you're too late and you're after the wrong man."

"Excuse me, sir," Nadia said who then pointed her gun at him. "But he's mine."

"Nadia St. Fleur, I remember you too," Mendoza said. "Just know one thing, I had nothing to do with your neighborhood being shot up. That was all Ricardo Colon."

"Yeah, and he's dead," Nadia said. "But I know you're lying. The Sons of Legba originally worked for your organization, but then you double-crossed us."

"Okay…you…got me," Mendoza kept on breathing. "But it's no use for you to try to kill me now. I'm already dying and…don't bother to…put me out of my misery. You already won."

"Yeah, well my neighborhood had also been killed some by those zombies, ya hear?" Nadia said. "Also, some of your men were involved."

"Lady, that's enough," Simpson said to her. He realized who she was. He had heard about some crime operation with the Sons of Legba and Mendoza's cartel, but it wasn't time to get into that.

"I got word that you were behind the outbreak," Simpson said. "You are going away for a long time."

"It's…no…use for you," Mendoza said. "I know I had something to do with it, but the man you really want is Walters. He manipulated me into paying him to start the outbreak. I…know…I have done a lot of terrible things, but I have nothing anymore. They took everything I had. Just let me die, okay?"

He then looked to Nadia. "I know I can't apologize for all that I did to your neighborhood and to your brother, but just know that you have justice now."

Simpson put the gun down. He was dumbfounded that he was chasing after the wrong man all along. Nadia put her gun away as well. She had been determined to get him back for everything. But even then, it wouldn't have been worth it. Mendoza was a victim of his own choices and karma came to do its job.

"One…thing…that I will say is that I have respected you for trying to bring me down for many years," Mendoza said. "You finally got me, but not the way you wanted. Go and get those sons of bitches."

While he lied there breathing, two zombies, who looked like the bodyguards from before, walked in and went right for the dying drug lord. Simpson quickly backed away and watched as the two zombies knelt and started eating the drug lord alive, or at least it seemed that he was still alive. Simpson left the room not long after. Nadia ran outside to go find her bodyguards and the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy and Tammy tried to look everywhere for Paul, like they were assigned to do. It wasn't long until they saw the Aussie photojournalist. He approached the couple.

Paul said. "Hey, you two follow me."

The couple followed the photographer to a quieter spot.

"What's going on?" Andy said.

"I have a feeling that I won't make it out of here," Paul said. "Those people are after me. I must give you this." He opened one end of his camera and handed the young man a memory card.

"You must show the world what was going on here," Paul said. "Also, if I don't make it, I want you to give my dog Eddie a good home."

"You barely know me," Andy said. "I don't know about this."

"Doesn't matter, they know that I took a lot of pictures," Paul said. "I want you to keep this evidence safe. If you can't take care of my dog, please find someone else who could. He was the only thing closest to family that I had here."

Andy took a deep breath and said okay. Paul then turned around and walked away. He put in another memory card into the camera.

Tammy leaned towards her fiancé. "What do you think is up with him?"

Andy replied, "He doesn't trust a lot of people, but for some reason, I gained his trust a few nights ago." He looked at the memory card. "This is all the proof that we need to show the world the cause of the outbreak."

Paul kept on running to try to avoid being caught, until someone had whacked him in the back with a sledgehammer. Paul tumbled from that attack, especially being that it from a very hard object. He barely managed to turn around but looked up and saw that it was Simon who attacked.

"Did you really think that you were going to escape, asshole?" Simon said and then looked down and saw the camera on the ground. "The rest of your story will _never_ get out!" He was ready to smash the camera. Paul then laughed.

"What's so funny?" Simon said.

"Who said that those pictures were on that camera?" Paul said.

Simon then picked up the camera to search for the photos and then saw that none of them matched anything, whether they were of the camp or the lab, anything.

Simon growled. "FUCK!" He then smashed the camera in anger. Simon then approached Paul with the sledgehammer and started to go to town on Paul's injured body. He smashed the man's legs and feet. Paul screamed in pain from those attacks.

"I'm going to enjoy this!" Simon said as an evil smile grew on his face. He kicked up right in the abdomen and then picked up his battered body and threw him towards a horde of zombies. He watched as he saw the zombies catch him and start having their dinner.

Simon then felt an attack from behind and then turned around and saw Andy.

"Why don't you just die, asshole?" Simon said and then picked up his hammer and tried to swing it right at him, but then Tammy intervened and then attacked him a lead pipe to his gut. He then looked to his right directly at her and then started laughing.

"You know, you never knew what was good for you," Simon said. He then got out a knife. "I'm going to make your loser boyfriend watch you die."

Tammy responded to that as she had a prod tucked in the back of her pants and was covered by her jacket. She immediately drew it and then shocked him a couple of times. Suddenly, a sound wave came towards Simon and then he started to get dizzy. Andy had picked up a blast frequency gun and shot Simon with it.

Out of nowhere, Nadia and her two goons came up and then knocked him out.

* * *

Elsewhere, Ana and Brad looked around to try to find Maria. She had been taken away. The question was to where exactly. There wasn't much time left and Phenotrans had plans for her. That could only mean one thing.

Ana walked alongside a wall and then saw a door with a window on it. Brad was behind her and she took a peek through one corner and saw what appeared to be a man with glasses and a white coat. She then noticed a Mexican girl strapped down. The man picked up a syringe and was ready to inject her with something. The substance had a red color to it. There was another syringe there, which had blue liquid in it.

"Oh no," Ana said.

"What?" Brad said.

"I found her, but it looks like she is strapped down," Ana said. "I have to go in there. That guy might inject her with zombie blood or something."

"Are you serious?" Brad replied.

"I owe her," Ana said. "I'm going to get her out of this mess. You go find Andy, Tammy, and Bruce."

Brad didn't want to leave her, but he took a look and there was only one man in there. Ana felt that she could handle matters. He might not even be armed for all they know.

The door opened as Ana slowly sneaked in. She had picked up a hammer while she was out there. The impact hammer that she had would have been a bit much for her to use.

As she slowly sneaked in, she held up the hammer ready to strike, until the doctor saw her and blocked the attack and ran her hand against a counter and backhanded her. He then grabbed her from behind.

"We haven't met, I'm Max!" the man said.

He then threw her towards the table with the medical tools, knocking it over in the process.

Max picked up the hammer, as well as one of the syringes and tried to whack her with the hammer. Ana thought ahead and had a metal stick with her and quickly blocked the attack, and then swung it towards the man's face. The syringe and the hammer fell from his hands. She clocked him once again, but the next time he blocked the attack and then punched her in the face and she fell to floor.

Max looked down to her. "You probably thought I was a computer nerd, didn't you?" He then laughed while she was still on the ground. "Wrong, I was a Navy Seal, lady." He then got a gun from his coat. "And you should see what I could do…with just my thumb!"

Just when he was about to draw and shoot her, Ana thought ahead and picked up the hammer and threw it towards the man's chest. She then picked up the syringe and drove the needle right into the man's right arm and then pushed down the plunger, injecting him with the substance.

She then went to Maria who was still strapped.

["Maria, it's me,"] Ana said in Spanish. ["I'm here to get you out of here."]

Maria responded in Spanish. ["It's too late. He already injected me."]

Ana started talking in English. "What?"

"Just leave me," Maria said. "That stuff he gave me infected me with the virus. It was blood from a zombie. He was going to also inject me with Zombrex so that the virus will be suppressed until I turn."

"You don't have to turn," Ana said.

"But I don't want to start the outbreak like they want me to," Maria said. "Just leave me here and if I turn soon, just kill me."

"I can't do this," Ana said.

"I'm tired of hiding, I'm tired of running," Maria said. "Sheryl and Erin were the closest to family that I've ever had and I love them so much. I lost my real family in Santa Cabeza."

As a professional, Ana tried to keep her emotions to herself, but in a situation like this, it was hard. She didn't really know Maria, but she saw her pain and it seemed that the pain will go away for her. From what it sounded like, if she were to bring Maria back, Phenotrans will still try to look for her. It would seem that if they found her again, they would get Sheryl and Erin infected as well. She wanted to protect them.

Maria had taken off a locket that she had and opened it up. On one side, it showed a picture of her with her birth parents. The other side had a picture of her with her adoptive family.

"Please give this to them and tell them that I'm sorry, but I can't keep going like this," Maria said. "Like I also said, when I turn, I want you to kill me. You'll be doing me and everyone else a favor."

"I promise you that I will do this," Ana said and started to breathe a bit. She couldn't believe what was going on. Never had she given someone a mercy killing. This would be her first time.

Max started to reanimate as his body got to his feet and then started to convulse. Maria started to convulse as well. It had only been a few minutes. It was said that it depended on a person's physiology on when the transformation process would take place. Some could take a while. It took Brad a bit before he almost turned, but he got lucky.

Then it was said that Phenotrans had been experimenting with a new strain, especially with newer bees, as well as the gas causing the undead to be more aggressive.

Max and Maria had both turned. Brad stormed in, while Ana drew her pistol. Both agents fired a couple of bullets right at the newly-turned zombies.

Brad then noticed who one of the zombies was. "What happened?"

"I was too late," Ana said, trying to keep her cool in this. "She told me to put her out of her misery."

Brad put his hand to his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"She was infected and she wanted me to kill to protect her family," Ana said.

"No time for this right now," Brad said. "Let's get out of here."

Ana agreed and then they left the room. They went to go meet with the others.

* * *

Professor Logan had led Mr. Walters and Agent S to the harvester, which had only been shut off. Nothing that a simple thing such as turning on the power couldn't fix.

"I thought you said you disabled it," Mr. Walters said.

"Oh, I said that?" Logan said. "I meant to say that I am going to disable it!"

He took out a remote control and then pushed a button, causing the big harvester in the lab to explode, as well as the machines nearby to explode as well.

Walters and Agent S looked up and saw that there entire operation went down in a flash.

"Brilliant!" Mr. Walters said in anger. "Well done, Logan! Another $80 million write-off! Looks we might have to invest another fucking harvester!"

"I'm just doing what's right," Logan said.

Agent S got out a knife. "Then I guess it's time for us for us to start cutting overhead."

She then went up to him and then slashed the scientist's chest.

"You fucked up our plan!" Walters said.

Logan knelt there bleeding all over his coat and was barely breathing, but he could say one more thing. "I'm just atoning for all the wrong that I have done. At least I'm dying for what I believe in."

"Well, that's a fact," Walters said and then reached for a pistol inside his coat and then shot the scientist point-blank in the dome.

"Looks like we're going to need to go take all of Mendoza's bearer bonds after all," Walters said. "I'm going to take the chopper to the hotel. You and Simon meet me there. We need to also take care of the survivors in the safe house."

"I'm on it, sir," Agent S said.

* * *

It wasn't long until Simon had regained consciousness and noticed that his hands were tied behind him and saw that everyone stood before him.

"What the fuck! What happened?" Simon said.

Andy retorted. "How does it feel to be tied up now, asshole?"

"Quiet," Brad said. "We're going to take him in. He's going to jail for a long time."

"Fuck you, asshole," Simon said.

"I should kill you, but that would be too easy," Brad said.

Andy then added. "If it were up to me, I would toss him into those zombies over there."

"Baby, no," Tammy said. "It wouldn't be worth it, even though I think he would deserve it."

It wasn't long until Bruce had joined with the rest of the group.

"Hey, I couldn't find that Walters guy," Simon said. "We have to take him soon."

Ana added. "He can't be too far. We'll find him."

Bruce then looked at Simon. "Maybe he knows something. We should take him back to the safe house. Come on, let's go."

Nadia's goons picked up Simon and carried him and took him to the car that they took. Everyone else went back in the van. Just before Bruce got in, his phone rang.

"Hello?" Bruce said. "What? Okay, we'll be ready, but we have a few more loose ends. Let me know when you guys are on your way. Thank you."

Ana asked. "What was that?"

"That was Governor Paddock," Bruce said. "It seems that the military will come at around 12 to 2 in the morning. As long as we're out of here, we'll be free from all this mess."

Andy and Tammy felt relieved when they heard that. They were one step away from going home. They couldn't wait any longer. It was only a matter of time until they get out of there.

Both cars took off, but from behind, a short-haired assassin/operative in a leather catsuit was watching.

"Okay, boss, it seems that they took Simon," Agent S said on her phone. "I'll take the other chopper and then we'll follow them where they go. That's when I will make our move and then rescue Simon so we can get out of here. Right, I'll be in touch."

**September 29th**

**9:11 PM**

**TIME UNTIL FIREBOMBING:**

**14:48:32**

**TIME UNTIL POSSIBLE RESCUE:**

**4:48:32**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will explain a few things.
> 
> It might have seemed anticlimactic for Mendoza's fate, as I had built him up as a threat, but in reality, he was nothing more than a pawn in Walters's plan.
> 
> Also, it was hard for me to go through with killing off a few characters, but really, Maria's fate was understandable, same with Logan's fate. I kept on jumping around on Paul's fate, but I guess it was bound to happen.
> 
> Certain sequences were heavily inspired by a few things. That long sequence in the office was inspired by a sequence in the comic book series, "Dead Rising: Road to Fortune." The little fight scene with Ana and that doctor was definitely a recreation of a similar fight scene from the 1996 film, "Broken Arrow." Some of the dialogue in the scene with Walters, Agent S, and Logan was from the James Bond movie, "Licence to Kill."


	32. The Home Stretch (The Facts part 1)

**September 29th**

**9:45 PM**

Inside the entertainment room where a TV was, Agent Simpson and Ana, along with Andy, Tammy, and Brad stood there and watched the video that Bruce had shot.

Since returning to the safe house, Ana had gone to talk to Sheryl and Erin Hall about Maria. The mother and daughter were heartbroken over what happened, but Ana had told them that she wanted them to have her locket. Sheryl realized that Maria had been hiding for a long time. If she had been safely brought back to the safe house, it was possible, if likely that wherever they went, Phenotrans would try to locate her again.

When Nadia and her goons came, the goons went to handle their own matters by taking Simon somewhere. Nadia, on the other hand, reunited with Ogoun and hugged him, as well as hugged Poulet, her mother-in-law.

Ana had brought out her laptop computer to connect the phone to it. Andy handed her the memory card that Paul had given him. It was to show the evidence what Phenotrans had been up to the past few days. Nadia and her men had brought Simon to the place, but he was placed in a room where he was chained and guarded. The man was not to be trusted. Being that he had a part in the outbreak, he was looking at a serious punishment.

The quintet stood there in front of the computer screen. Simpson had recorded the entire conversation between Walters and Professor Logan, as well as Mendoza bursting into the office to confront Walters.

Everyone realized who the real threat of the whole outbreak was. That wasn't to say that Simon didn't have anything to do with it, but the whole time that Ana and Bruce had been chasing after a wanted crime lord, it turned out that he was nothing more than just pawn in the pharmaceutical company's scheme. For all they knew, the government would cover everything up and Phenotrans would deny their involvement or act like they were forced into it and place the blame on Mendoza.

Bruce turned his attention to the other four people. "Okay, everyone, we are running out of time here. The extraction teams should be here in a few hours to get everyone out of here. The bombing is still set for tomorrow as far as I know. I would like to catch this Walters guy just much as anybody else does, but we are running out of time. There is no way he is still at the lab. He could be anywhere in the city."

Ana replied, "I saw an explosion over in the lab earlier. We didn't go check on the scientist that they took."

"It seems like he might be dead," Andy said. "Usually when someone takes a person away like that, nothing good will happen after that. Trust me, I know."

Tammy added, "Just wondering, but what could happen if you guys don't catch him and we get out of here? It seems like this is the guy who is really the mastermind behind everything, not Simon."

Andy replied, "He has to know more. When he and those gang members tortured me, he tried to brag about how he was the mastermind behind everything, but I was able to tell that he was lying. When I confronted that gang leader, he told me that Simon acts like he is the shit, but if he helped us locate the lab, he must have seen it firsthand."

Ana's eyes got a little bigger when she heard Andy say that.

"Wait, I think I have proof about this," Ana said and then got out her smartphone and went to the videos to the previous night when Brad got bit.

"I have some video evidence of how he acted towards his boss," Ana said. "This all happened last night when I saw Brad get bit."

"What?" Brad yelled. "You recorded that whole thing happening?"

"Brad, calm down," Ana said. "It was only to get evidence about Simon and who his boss is. You saw it too. Simon acted a bit scared when he dealt with his boss. He probably has some kind of complex or something."

That sounds like him, alright. Tammy thought. "I think we should go talk to him. He has to know what that guy is planning. As much as I would like to just stay and relax, we can't let any of those people win. After all, he sent a lot of people to try to kill Andy and I think he was involved in a lot of the murders that happened out there."

Andy turned towards his fiancé. "Tammy, are you sure about this?"

Tammy replied, "In all of my years of knowing him, I never thought he would sink this low to take part in anything like this. Besides, I know he never let me go, so I think I can make him talk."

"Well, whatever happens, we have to find Walters before he gets out of the city," Simpson said. "All this time, I was chasing after someone who was no longer a threat, when there was a real threat here all along."

Everyone paused for a bit after he said that.

"Wait," Andy said. "I think I have an idea. You see, I don't think he knows that we know about his boss. I am sure that he thinks that we think he was behind everything. I think we could trap him."

"We need to talk to that guy," Bruce said. "Come on."

* * *

**UPSTAIRS**

Bruce led the way for everyone to follow him into a bedroom that had a FBI agent guarding the door. Inside, another agent was standing guard to keep an eye on Simon, who was handcuffed to prevent him from trying to escape.

He looked up at all five people, who looked him with so much disgust and hatred.

Bruce said, "Gates, as a professional, I'm just going to cut right to the chase about everything that has happened up until now. Tell us everything that you planned. After all, you were the one who started the outbreak. Mr. Talbat here told us everything."

"I'm not saying shit," Simon said.

Andy then went right in front of him. "Doesn't feel so good to be in that position now, huh? The thing that I want to know is what your whole motive for starting the outbreak. You said that everyone was supposed to die, so you had a bunch of people try to kill others or turn them. You know, being that you were the real mastermind, you told me everything. So now you got to tell everyone else."

Ana said, "When were you planning the next outbreak? Where were you planning it, too?"

From that moment, Simon was speechless.

"It just seems like you're screwed now," Ana added. "You are in our custody now. You caused all of this. You admitted to Andy's face when you tortured him. You filmed him getting tortured and then admitted everything to his face. So we got you now. All you have to do is tell us about what your company was planning, like the next outbreak or something. After all, Phenotrans was behind the Vegas outbreak and the Fortune City outbreak. What other cities did you plan on infecting?"

Sweat ran down Simon's forehead and he started squirming the moment he heard Tammy put him on the spot at that point.

"You know what I think," Ana said. "I think you may have only had something to do with the outbreak, but you weren't the mastermind that you had everyone else thinking. It seems that someone else was involved. Someone much higher than you on the food chain. Someone you're afraid of. If you mess up, he might have you killed, right?"

Simon shook his head. His face was red and moist from all the sweat.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Simon said.

Ana then got out her phone and showed him the video footage she took. Simon's jaw dropped and he started to breathe a bit intensely.

"OKAY! OKAY! YOU GOT ME!" Simon yelled.

"I knew it," Ana said.

Simon had no choice but to talk at that point. "Okay, I only had talked Mr. Walters into starting the outbreak at some point. He had been planning on infecting South Florida so that the virus can spread. Because of that, he had me and some other people to help spread the virus all over the city. Once we got word about a rescue or firebombing, he wanted to us to help infect and/or kill other people so that we could eliminate all evidence of human life from the city. That's all I know."

Bruce and Ana look at each other, and then they look towards Brad, Andy, and Tammy. Somehow they felt he wasn't telling them everything. But what was amazing to them was that it was clear that he was scared of his boss.

"So he had been planning on infecting this city for sometime," Bruce said. "You know, your "special client" told me something in his last breath. I also have evidence that states that you guys manipulated someone to loan you money for research and equipment for the next outbreak."

"You're bluffing," Simon said.

"Am I?" Bruce said with so much derision and then showed him the video of Walters grilling Logan.

Simon then added, "You know, that's not going to do you much good. Besides, what we're doing is for the greater good, even if it means having people die out there."

Ana stood there with a scowl on her face. Yeah, all for the money.

Brad then walked in front of Simon, who was lying there cuffed.

"Tell me something, Simon," Brad said. "That morning, were you going to get those gang members to kill me? All those times you ditched me, I think you were setting me up to get killed. But I'm onto you."

"You were getting in my way," Simon said. "Like I said, it was nothing personal."

"You made it personal," Brad said. "Not just with me, but for everyone here. You were also trying to get these two civilians here killed."

Andy and Tammy stood there with scowls on their faces.

Brad added, "You know, I would kill you for what you tried to do, but I am a professional. The only thing I want from you is to be locked up in a cell for years."

"Come on, everyone," Bruce said and then looked to Simon. "This isn't over."

Everyone left the room. However, Tammy stayed. Andy looked towards her and mouthed, _"What are you doing?"_

Tammy mouthed, _"I'll catch up to you."_

Andy then exited the door and looked at both of them. The agent who was guarding stepped out for a bit because it was clear that Tammy wanted a private discussion with the suspect.

Once the door closed, Tammy stood there with her eyes directly at Simon. Her green eyes had an icy presence about them as she glowered at him and had her arms crossed.

Silence filled up the room. With Tammy's ice cold stare, Simon lied there with half a smile on his face, while his emotion changed with a touch of annoyance.

"Now that we're alone, Simon," Tammy said. "And don't get any ideas here. I don't want to be anywhere near you, but right now, I have to get something off my chest. Did you really think that if Andy died or anything that I would take you back?"

"What gave you that idea?" Simon said.

"Andy told me everything that happened," she said. "I even saw the video of you torturing him. I bet you didn't know that's how we found him, huh? You didn't stop to think that the signal from his phone would trace his location."

Simon rolled his eyes at that remark from his ex.

"You think you know me, don't you?" Simon said.

"I used to know you," Tammy said with so much disdain in her voice. "But I remembered how you used to be. You sometimes tried to make me look like the bad guy whenever you did something. You even beat up my brother when he saw you with another girl. And now you were involved in murdering hundreds, maybe thousands of people out there."

Simon said. "I am one of the good guys here. We're trying to save lives."

"Bullshit!" Tammy yelled. "I know about your so-called 'cause,' but you really think that you're doing the right thing, especially when you went so far as to brutally torture Andy and force me to watch it. And don't try to lie your way into making it seem like it was someone else. I know it was you. I should have known it was you from the start. You really think that I would want you again? Doesn't matter if it's been six years since I last saw you. You haven't changed a bit."

Tammy paused and turned her attention away from him. It was clear that this was a cathartic experience for her. The last thing that she wanted was to be in his presence. She could talk about a lot of the things he put her through when they were younger, but in her case, being involved in a zombie outbreak and then brutally maiming someone, not just her boyfriend, was a whole new low.

She slowly shifted her eyes towards him while her face looked to the floor. She took a deep breath.

"What do you really want from me?" she said. "You really thought that this whole thing would work, didn't you? You actually thought that I would go back to you?"

"Come on, we were perfect for each other," Simon said.

"No, we weren't," Tammy said. "So I was right. You did all this. You put out that hit on Andy. I bet I wasn't far on the list. You couldn't stand another man being with me, so you tried to have him killed. You really thought that I would go back to you if he had died. It will never happen and you know it."

"You broke my heart," Simon said. "You dumped me. My parents tried to get rid of me by shipping me off to military school and then to the Navy."

"No, I didn't," Tammy said. "It was hard, but I had to do it. It was hard for my dad because he used to be so close with your dad, but this whole thing caused a rift between our families. You know what I also heard? I heard that you were discharged from the Navy. Your parents cared about you, but you just couldn't be helped, and now they're gone. Yeah, I know what happened to them. You're not well, Simon. You've gotten worse since the last time we were in each other's lives and Andy told me that you've been stalking me for a long time."

"You _love_ me," Simon said.

"No, I love Andy," Tammy said. "You disgust me. You are the most pathetic man I have ever met. I even remember you tried to manipulate my dad when he tried to talk to you. My dad tried to help you when we were together. But then I realized that you can't be helped, not after everything you put me through and everything you put Andy through."

"I have changed, Tammy," Simon said. "You can do better than that loser."

"Yeah, you have changed," Tammy said. "But not for the better. Even if I did leave Andy, I would never go back to you. When this is all over, I'm going to make sure you never come near me or Andy ever again."

Just like that, Tammy turned around and headed for the door to leave the room. Andy stood by and waited for her.

"Hey, sweetheart, is everything okay?" Andy said.

"Everything is fine, honey," Tammy said and then hugged her man.

"You know what, I'll catch up to you in a bit," Andy said.

"Okay, I will wait for you," Tammy said and then took a deep breath. It was clear that what she said to Simon was cathartic for her. She had wanted to let it out to him because this was not only an ex to her, but someone she had a long history with.

The door to the room had opened once again as Andy walked right in with a scowl on his face. He shut the door and locked the door. Simon looked up with a look of confusion and slight fear.

"Now it's my turn, asshole," Andy said.

"Well, well," Simon said. "I guess you're going to try to torture me now, huh?"

"Cut the bullshit, Simon," Andy said. "I just want to know one thing. There is a question that's been on my mind since you tortured me. Seeing as how you practically manipulated your boss to start the outbreak at this time because you_ knew_ that we were going to be here, what would have happened if Tammy had died and I had lived, or if we both died out there? Also, what would have happened if we had gone somewhere else? Would you have convinced your boss to start an outbreak there?"

Silence was the only thing answering Andy's questions. It appeared that Simon didn't know how to answer them.

"That's exactly what I thought," Andy said. "And one more thing."

Andy reached and tried to search Simon's pockets until he felt something metal and circular. He reached in for that pocket and got out the one thing that he needed from him: the engagement ring. He put the ring in his pocket and then turned around to leave the room.

"It's not over, Andy," Simon said. "I'm going to leave this city and all of you will be left to rot and burn. Or maybe you will see someone you love turn into the one thing you fear. After all, you are afraid of seeing someone you love die in front of you."

Andy stopped and suddenly glared at him.

"Yeah, I know some stuff about you," Simon said. "You and Tammy were in the Fortune City outbreak. I had read the list of survivors. I had also done some research about how you were depressed from the killing and the violence. Ironic because I suspected that you had killed a lot of zombies out there, but I think I know what one of the main reasons for your trauma and depression was."

The look on Andy's face heated up some more. It had only been two years since Fortune City, but when he had those nightmares, the trauma had only returned. Lucky for him, he had developed some survival skills and had used some combat skills based on instinct.

"Yeah, I think I also came across some information somewhere," Simon said sneeringly. "A lot of people may have died in the outbreak, but I think I came across a list of identified victims. Does the name Adrian Lee mean anything to you? Tell me one thing, Andy. What would happen if your precious Tammy suffered the same fate?"

Andy's scowl grew tighter as he growled and he stormed right towards Simon and socked him right in the face. Simon then started to laugh after that.

"One more thing…Andy," Simon said and after the pause, his voice had a condescending tone when he said Andy's name. "The outbreak for Palm Tree City was already in the plans to begin with. But if you had gone anywhere else, like the Uranus Zone, Southern California, anywhere, I would have made sure to start an outbreak there. Besides, it's in our best interests to start other outbreaks to increase the demand for Zombrex. More demand means more profit, which can also help all of the infected out there."

A deep breath came out of Andy's mouth. He had to control his rage somehow, even though it was hard considering that the man he was talking to was getting under his skin.

"I don't believe you for one second that you care about the 'lives you are saving,'" Andy said. "It's obvious to me that you care only about the money, and you don't even care about human life like you said. But just know one thing: if you so much as touch Tammy, I'm going to kill you. No questions asked. I will kill you if you lay a finger on her."

Andy sneered at him and then walked out of the room with his shoulders stiff and walking quickly. Tammy stood nearby and noticed Andy walking right by her. She knew the look on his face and his body language. It was obvious that he was angry.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Tammy said.

Andy took a deep breath. "I'll be fine, baby. I just needed to get something off my chest."

Tammy replied, "Come on, let's go somewhere else right now."

* * *

**10 minutes later.**

Ana sat in the security room with the couple, while Bruce and Brad were somewhere else discussing everything going on. She should have been with them, but she needed to be away from them for a little bit.

Being that Simon's boss was out there and still at large, she was curious as to what else he was planning. There were only a few hours left before they get extracted, after they got the green light from the government. But in her case, it wasn't over yet. She stood there looking at the floor.

"Hey, Ana," Andy said. "Is something wrong?"

Tammy added, "Yeah, you haven't said a word. Are you okay?"

"That guy knows more than what he told us," Ana said. "We now know who is behind everything, but he didn't tell us what his boss was planning. When I asked him about the next outbreak, he didn't answer the question. It didn't seem like he cared about the fact that he was locked up. It seems like…"

"He might be setting us up?" Andy said.

A scream was heard from outside the room. Tammy then looked up and saw a group of young girls running. Andy and Ana then looked up. The girls were Rachel and her friends.

Andy stepped forward and approached Brittany. "Hey, what's going on?"

Brittany replied, "We saw some zombies coming in."

The trio all looked at each other.

"You four go find a room to stay in," Tammy said. "We'll take care of this."

The trio ran down the hall and saw the undead coming up. The group of friends decided to stay in the security room. Andy turned around and noticed that the storage room with weapons and other things that could be used as weapons was nearby.

"Ladies, over there," Andy pointed towards the door to the storage room.

Ana and Tammy followed Andy to the storage room and picked up some items that they could use. On the other end of the hall, Bruce, Brad, and a few fellow agents, including Paulson, all drew their firearms after the trio entered the storage room.

Andy picked up a shotgun and a baseball bat. Tammy picked up a golf club. Ana had her pistol on her, but she picked up a crowbar in case a zombie got closer to her. It wasn't long until they exited the room. There was no time to combine items to make a weapon. This was a situation where anything they could find could be useful.

The federal agents continued to gun down the zombies that were approaching them. The trio had cut through the hall and into another hallway that was behind the gun-toting agents. More zombies came out. Andy ran and swung the bat towards the dome of a female zombie. Tammy swung the golf towards another female zombie coming towards. She made sure that the iron end had made contact with the zombie's head.

Ana drew her pistol and saw that she had enough bullets. She shot a couple of bullets towards the zombie, but had little effect on it. It then occurred to her that the zombie was one of those "gas-powered" zombies. It didn't help that it was after dark when the zombies would be more aggressive. She reached for her crowbar in the back of her jacket and swung it towards the zombie's neck and pierced it with blood squirting out and then pulled it out, causing more blood to squirt out and splattered onto the wall.

Afterwards, they continued to find ways to get to the main area of the house. It turned out several people were out there trying to defend themselves against the zombies. People ranging from Gary, Rhonda, to the beach volleyball players, as well as Tomomi and Deidre, and also Marcus and Gregory. Even Ana's boss from the hotel, Kent, joined in on the action.

"Where the hell did these zombies come from?" Ana said. "It's pretty guarded out there. I don't know how this happened."

"Whatever it is," Andy said. "We need to try to close the doors or the gate outside."

"Hey," a female voice said. Andy turned around and saw a woman and a man holding guns. It was Alyssa and Jonathan.

"You go check out the gate," Alyssa said. "My husband and I will help out around here."

Then Cora, Nina, and Summer got out and started attacking the zombies that found their way in. A few men in black suits had come in and were holding rifles. Before they were able to fire their weapons at any living person, they were quickly gunned down from above on a railing, as Sheryl and Erin had their rifles with them. Nadia and her goons had joined in on the defense as well. It appeared that the Phenotrans agents had underestimated some of the survivors in the safe house.

"Go check everything out," Jonathan said. "Alyssa and I will tell the people who aren't holding guns to watch out. We'll handle the guys with guns."

Andy handed Tammy the shotgun he was using.

"Tammy," he said.

"I know, you go see what's up," she said. "Ana and I got this."

Andy went forth to pass the other zombies. He whacked another mercenary who went inside the house from behind. Oddly enough, a zombie was right behind him and then grabbed the downed merc and started eating him alive. Andy just walked right outside and more zombies went through the gate, which was open and saw that a couple of cars were close to it to keep it open.

A couple of agents who were guarding the outside were seen trying to fight them off. A gas zombie snuck up behind him, but he quickly turned around and clocked the zombie right in the head with the bat. Knowing that this type of zombie was hard to keep down, he thought ahead and then stomped right on its head and then kicked it off. Out from the severed neck a queen bee flew right out and then flew towards him. Andy swung the bat and caused it to fall.

He then looked and saw some more zombies coming through the gate. The two agents continued to try holding them off. Andy heard one of them say that they were running low on bullets. Some zombies even tried to get inside. Andy raised his right foot and stomped on the bee hard and just like that, the zombies convulsed and collapsed. The two agents were confused and then looked over at Andy, who waved at them. The agents waved back and thanked him for that.

Andy went towards the gate and saw that the wires were tampered with. Then something else occurred to him. He noticed a puddle or stain on the ground. It had some kind of smell to it. The liquid looked pink, similar to that stuff that Tammy drank before. Does the liquid have that kind of effect even without drinking it? Who knows?

Whatever the case was, Andy did his best to try to put the wires back together. Once a flash occurred, the gate started to close. He quickly ran while he saw an opening to see the gate close. He ran right into the grounds and then back into the house.

He went inside and noticed that a lot of zombies were now fully dead. A lot of people came out to try to help clean up the mess. Some of them slowly came out with so much relief that the threat was gone.

"What happened here?" Simpson said with the other agents accompanying him.

"We don't know," Andy said. "But I think that someone lured some zombies here."

"But I wonder what the reason was," Ana said. "Someone must know that we're here and probably tried to take everyone out."

Just then, Brad and Paulson approached everyone.

"Hey," Brad said. "I found something you might want to see."

Everyone followed the two into the security room and saw something on the feed that seemed irregular. There were a few mercenaries in a lobby of a hotel and a few others entering an elevator. Ana took a closer look and recognized the lobby. She knew exactly what hotel that was.

"Excuse me for a sec," she said.

She ran outside and came across Kent, who was helping clean up the mess.

"Kent, I need to talk to you," Ana said. "Come with me."

The man followed her to the security room. He then looked up at the screen.

"Listen, I think something fishy is going on here," Ana said. "Some of those guys look like they might be there to make a deal or…"

"Maybe rob the place," Bruce said.

Ana asked him, "Do you know anything about a hidden safe or something?"

Kent realized why his employee was working undercover. He knew who owned the hotel. But now that the owner was dead, there had to be something going on, but for what reason?

"I think I had overheard some of Mr. Mendoza's men talking about some money being hidden in the office, but I am not sure where," Kent said. "But wait, I think I remember hearing another thing. He had a special penthouse suite at the hotel. There was more money hidden up there."

Andy and Tammy then looked up at the feed and saw a man with sunglasses and a suit talking to some of the mercenaries. The man had a scar on his face.

"That has to be the guy who was really behind all of this," Tammy said.

"He looks like bad news," Andy said.

"It sounds like he is planning a heist," Ana said.

Then it hit Bruce. "I saw some stuff at the lab earlier. I noticed an explosion at some point. I think I know what they might be doing." He paused for a bit. "We have to go stop him. Come on, Ana."

Andy cut in. "I'm going with you."

Ana replied, "Andy, you have helped a lot. We have to go catch him. You and Tammy stay here. We'll be back soon and then we'll be out of here."

She hugged him once again and then looked at Tammy.

"Listen, if I'm not back soon, just know that you have a great guy right here and I know this for a fact. Just keep an eye on him, okay?"

Tammy then shook Ana's hand and then hugged her. "Be careful out there."

The two FBI agents took off, along with a few other fellow agents. Andy and Tammy stood there.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Andy said. "I'm going over there."

"Andy, don't," Tammy said. "I know we've done a lot, but we need to rest before we get out of here."

"Tammy, I love you, but I think there is something else going down," Andy said. "I'll be back. I promise. Stay here with everyone else, okay? I promise I'll be back."

Andy hugged his fiancé right then.

"Be careful, baby," Tammy said and then handed him the shotgun.

"I will, sweetie," Andy said.

He then got out of the room. He wasn't going to just take off like that. He needed to prepare himself. He went back into the storage room and saw a pitchfork and then remembered where he left his barbed wire bat. He needed all the firepower he can get. It was time to do something for Ana in this case. He sensed that something bad will happen.

When he was about to leave, several survivors had approached him.

"Hey, Andy," a female voice said.

He turned around and saw Rhonda and Gary standing there, along with Cora and her two cohorts. Others like Gregory, Marcus, Tomomi, Deidre, Eric, and others had approached him. They figured that something was up.

"Are you going out there?" Rhonda said.

"Yes, I have to go help my friend," Andy said.

"Do you need an extra hand?" Gary said.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think I should go at this alone," Andy said. "I owe my friend a lot for saving me and Tammy before. I have a feeling that something big will go down. Thanks for offering to help, but I think I got this."

Andy then turned around and saw that the motorcycle with the chainsaws was still on the grounds. He reached for his pocket and then got out the keys. He went to the bike and started it up and then took off.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, a short-haired female operative snuck around the upstairs part of the house and saw a couple of agents standing by a door. She got out a pistol with a suppressor and quickly shot one of them in the head. One of them turned around and was met with a sharp alloy running across his neck. She opened the door and saw Simon cuffed to the bed. She then dragged the bodies inside to avoid suspicion.

"Well, I wonder what took you so long," Simon said.

Agent S replied, "I had to cause a distraction downstairs. I'm sure that they'll care of the problem."

Suddenly, they heard some talking downstairs. It seemed that their plan didn't work like they wanted it to.

"We have to go with Plan B," Agent S said. "Listen, we have to meet Mr. Walters in a little bit."

"No, I'll catch up with you in a bit," Simon said. "I have a plan of my own. You go meet with Walters and then we'll meet up."

Agent S nodded her head. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'll be in touch," Simon said and an evil smile grew on his face.

**September 29th**

**10:43 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE FIREBOMBING:**

**13:16:19**

**TIME UNTIL THE RESCUE:**

**3:16:19**


	33. Back Where It Started (The Facts part 2)

**September 29th**

**10:59 PM**

**TIME UNTIL THE RESCUE:**

**3:00:46**

There was only a few hours left before the rescue. Bruce had decided that it was time to nail the real mastermind behind the Palm Tree Outbreak. The rescue was imminent and there was so little time, so he and Ana had to move.

They had arrived at the Hotel Caribbean. The two agents went inside through the automatic door and noticed that the lobby was crawling with zombies, as well as mercenaries in black suits carrying rifles and side-arms. It appeared that those people, as some of those mercenaries were women as well, were working for Phenotrans.

All this time that Ana and Bruce were chasing after a wanted drug lord, when in reality, that shady pharmaceutical company was the real problem. They had found out that a young ZDC agent was working for them and left his partner to die. They were also behind a lot of the murders that occurred out in the city.

However, Ana was the only one of the two agents who had gotten a look of the man who was heading this entire operation. With those mercenaries patrolling the area, that man had to be nearby.

Overall, it was now or never. Time was running out and they needed to get him fast.

Bruce looked over at Ana and said that he'll sneak his way in and that she should try to enter through another area.

"Are you sure you got this?" Ana said. "I think I know where to find Mendoza's office."

"This place is already crawling with assholes," Simpson said. "I have been through missions where I had to sneak by people. I may be a lot older than you, but that doesn't mean I lost my touch. I offered to check out the camp a few days ago, remember?"

Ana looked around and saw sledgehammer lying around near the front desk, presumably because the Phenotrans mercenaries needed it to break open the safes. One question on her mind was why there were two hidden safes in the hotel, if that were even a fact. Nevertheless, she came up with an idea.

"Okay, you go on ahead," Ana said. "I'll go the other way."

Her senior agent took off to stay out of sight. She went ahead to grab the sledgehammer that was lying around. She knew that it was a heavy weapon to carry, but with there being zombies walking around, she sensed that she didn't have enough rounds to take them all down. Not to mention that the gunshots would draw a lot of unwanted attention on her from the mercenaries.

She turned around to get to the outside. She saw some abandoned cars on the road. It then occurred to her what she could possibly use in a situation like this, not just against the zombies, but also against the Phenotrans soldiers.

She went right up to the first car she saw, which had a door to the driver's seat open. She ran towards it and noticed some remains off someone on the road, as it looked like the zombies had eaten the driver of that vehicle alive. The person's torso and head, along with one arm and one leg remained there, with the flesh having been deteriorated and peeled off.

As gruesome as that sight was, she had to keep her head a bit. She saw a roll of duct tape near the console and then saw the lever to pop the hood. She had an idea.

She raised the hood and then put the little pole to keep it ascended. She saw the car's battery and then found some gloves in the person's car and put them on, knowing that she will get some grease on her hands. Once she got the battery out, she got the hammer and the tape to connect the hammer right to the battery. It wasn't guaranteed that her plan will work, but she had to find out soon.

Ana got up and saw a zombie walking towards her. She swung her hybrid weapon and noticed an electrical shock from the impact of the attack. She smiled in relief at how it worked. It was now time to get inside the hotel.

She noticed another car nearby and saw that the keys of that car were still in the ignition. She went to it and started it up and went to the other area she needed to get in through.

She drove to the garage where staff members parked at the hotel. She ran over a few zombies, while others grabbed on and held on and banged on the windows and also on the windshield. She was barely able to see where she was going through a crack as a zombie was hanging on the top of the car and then slammed on the brake to send the zombie in front of her flying and then slammed on the gas. She bumped as she drove right over the fallen zombie's decaying body, or what was left of it. She made a right into the garage and slammed on the brakes and put it in park. It didn't matter if she didn't park it in a parking spot. It was not the time for that.

Even though she slammed on the brakes and sent a few zombies flying, not all of them fell off. She turned to her left and saw a zombie's face with its eyes glowing red looking at through the window hanging upside down. She tried to get to the passenger's side and saw a zombie right to the side.

_Oh shit, I'm fucked._ She thought. She then felt her pistol on her holster. With her back pressed against the passenger door, she grabbed it and pointed it directly at the zombie to her left and then squeezed the trigger as the slug right to the zombie's head and then saw blood splatter right onto the window, but then she heard a thud. She then slowly opened the door and saw that a body lying right next to the driver's side door. She got out with her gun and hybrid weapon with her and looked around. She saw a bunch of zombies standing and walking around. Some of them moved faster than the others. They were the gas-influenced zombies. As more zombies were getting closer to her, she quickly twirled the hammer as the battery was facing the ground and lifted it over her head swung it towards the ground to unleash a devastating electric shockwave.

All of the zombies collapsed from the impact of the shockwave. Another one came towards her and she hit the zombie in the gut and then swung and smashed it over the head, causing half of its body to explode, leaving only the bottom half.

She then looked around to find another way to get inside. She saw the door to enter the hotel. She walked up and then opened it and she found herself close to the lobby again. She knew the area because she worked undercover there. The garage was near the elevators, as well as the bar area. It was close to the maintenance closet where Kent was trapped. Something had told her that the office was nearby.

One thing that she saw in the bar area was a blender, as well as bottles of whiskey and for some reason, bags of beans. When she was at the safe house, she had looked at the Tape It or Die blog and saw some things on how to build weapons out of stuff, as well as using anything at one's disposal. But one thing that she remembered seeing was a post about using certain foods to mix to make a drink. She had used some stuff that Andy and Tammy had given her, as well as remembered seeing one that would cause someone to move faster, which she used. She figured that those foods would mix into something that she hadn't used before. She went for it.

She put the alcoholic drink into the blender and then the beans in there and then it started to blend. The liquid appeared purple. She wasn't sure if this was the right stuff, as she was given some purple stuff to drink by Andy earlier, but there was only one way to find out. She took a swig of the drink and then noticed that the zombies didn't pay any attention to her. So it was smooth sailing for her.

She walked around some of the oblivious or repulsed zombies. A man in a black uniform was seen. Gasped at the sight of him, she quickly hid behind a wall with her electrical hammer.

"Okay, Mr. Walters wants us to check to see if there is anything in the safe in the office," the man said. "We take however much money there is and then we move upstairs to the penthouse suite."

Another man said. "Will we have enough?"

"We need as much as we can get. Mr. Walters was pissed when that snake scientist blew up the harvester."

"We still have enough from a lot of what that drug lord paid us."

"Yeah, but after the harvester blew up, that was some money down the drain."

"I see, it's just that Mr. Walters did not stop to think that we could just get out of here," one of the men said.

The other man replied, "Hey, he may have a high position but he still answers to the big dogs." The man then saw something. "Hey you, over there!"

Ana tried to sneak by but was caught.

"Oh shit," she said.

She got out her electric crusher weapon. The guys looked at her with derision and confusion.

"What the hell is that supposed to do?" one of the men said.

She thought ahead and smashed the hammer with the battery towards the ground in front of them and the shockwave sent the two flying off their feet.

She walked towards them and it looked like they weren't getting up, or breathing for that matter. She then walked towards the hall to get towards the office area. Right through her right peripheral, two more men in black uniforms were seen walking out and noticed the two bodies in front of them and then see a young Mexican woman dressed in dark casual clothes.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" One of the men said.

Ana knew she was screwed at that moment. She was outnumbered by only one other operative and it was possible that more support for them would surface as well. Her partner was likely elsewhere trying to find ways to hide and make his move. Neither of them knew where the boss was. But at this rate, Ana probably was not going to get there.

The guys were holding assault rifles and ready to aim at her. But then…

"Stop," a male voice said. The voice sounded familiar to Ana.

The two mercs turned around and saw a young blonde man holding a shotgun with a pitchfork taped to it. It was Andy.

"You try anything and you two get it," Andy said.

Ana used that opportunity to get up and draw her side-arm and point right behind the head of one of the mercs.

"To answer your question," she said. "I am FBI. What are you guys doing and where is your boss?"

The merc tried to grab his side-arm, but Ana poked him in the back of the head with the barrel.

"You try anything and I'll blow your head off," she said.

Andy pushed the pitchfork right towards the gut of the other mercenary. It was not hard for him to figure what would happen if he didn't cooperate, knowing the type of power that the weapon the gardening tool was connected to had.

"I'm not going to tell you where he is, but he isn't too far," he said. "Good luck trying to get to him."

Ana pistol-whipped him, while Andy smacked the other guy in the face with the stock of the shotgun. Both of them were knocked out.

Andy and Ana walked away to go look for the office. It wasn't long until they heard the sounds of screams and flesh being torn.

"Did we just leave those guys to die?" Ana said.

Andy had a look on his face that said "oops." It wasn't like those guys weren't unarmed or knocked out cold completely. It was possible that they could have defended themselves.

In either case, it didn't matter. Ana was out to look for her partner and also to look for the office. What's amazing about all of this was that these guys were doing this while zombies were around. It seemed that the mercenaries were only around to keep the zombies at bay. Some of the zombies in the hotel at that point looked like members of the staff, as Ana recognized a few of them, only by that point, their flesh had festered a lot, as well as their eyes were glazed over.

It didn't take long for the two to reach the office area. The two hid behind a wall near the door. One of them noticed a familiar face sitting behind the desk. It was Bruce. A couple of men with high-powered firearms were seen standing near another man with a briefcase. Andy looked up and saw an open door on a wall. One of the men closed the door, and surprisingly, slid what looked like a liquor cabinet in front of the safe.

"Man, I hope that there is more money in the other safe," one of the guys said.

"Hey, at least we found some more guns we can use," another guy said. "There was also a good amount in this safe anyway. We need to go find Mr. Walters now. He is upstairs in the penthouse suite. The guys up there told us that the safe up there should have more."

The third man said, "Well, we need to make this fast. Mr. Walters should have his chopper come soon."

Much to everyone's shock, the trio of mercenaries didn't even notice Bruce, Ana, or Andy's presence, especially since they walked in the opposite direction of where Ana and Andy hid.

They walked down the hall. Out of the doorway, Bruce had emerged and noticed Ana and Andy standing there.

"Ana, you're here," Bruce said and then saw Andy. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help," Andy said. "I had a bad feeling about this, so I came to see what was going on. Don't worry, I told Tammy to stay at the safe house."

"What did you find," Ana asked.

Simpson replied, "It appeared that the safe in the office only had a decent amount money in there, but not as much as they expected. What they found was drugs and some guns in there as well. It seems that they are going upstairs to the penthouse suite to find more money. Once they are done, they will fly out of here."

"Who the hell plans a heist in the middle of a zombie outbreak?" Ana asked.

"Hey, I've seen something like this before," Andy said. "During the Fortune City outbreak, Tyrone King planned a big heist. He had some guys trying to drill through the safes of some of the casinos. I saw some of this happen when I was trying to find places to hide and saw some guys with guns."

Ana turned to Andy. "Tyrone King? That guy who hosted 'Terror Is Reality'?"

"The very same," Andy said.

"I thought that show was terrible," Bruce said. "Plus, that guy rubbed me the wrong way. Anyway, that guy should be up there. I'm going for it. He's not getting away."

"Wait," Andy said. "How do we know that the elevators won't just lead to a trap? For all we know, the elevator could take us right into the penthouse and the guys up there will gun us all down on sight."

"Good point, Andy," Bruce said. "There has to be another way. I saw that the staircases are loaded with zombies. There is just no way that we would be able to get up there through the stairs. There are too many floors to climb and we wouldn't make it in time before they leave."

"On the other hand," Ana said. "Why don't you take the elevator to the top floor and use your black ops skills, while Andy and I will take the elevator to a few floors below and then we'll take the stairs the rest of the way? We'll meet you just in time."

"Good idea, Torres," Bruce addressed her by her last name as a means to show that he saw her as a professional. He already respected her, but for the past few days, she had shown that she had skills for survival for a rookie. She was far from the level of her senior agent, but she had done a lot more in a few days than what other rookies would in that short amount of time.

"We'll meet you up there, sir," Andy said.

"Don't worry, I'll buy us some time," Bruce said.

Bruce took off to the same elevator those mercenaries took to get up to the top floor.

Andy and Ana went the opposite area to find the elevators that were close to the lobby. It seemed that the elevator that was close to the office was the only one that could be able to get to the penthouse suite.

Once they got back out to the lobby area, some zombies started to turn their attentions towards the two living beings. It then occurred to Ana that the effects from the substance that she drank had worn off at that point.

A zombie had slowly walked towards Andy. He wasn't about to go down, as he pierced the zombie in the gut with the pitchfork. He saw that the zombie no longer moved as he looked directly in the zombie's eyes and quickly squeezed the trigger of the shotgun and saw the zombie get blown away from the shell that that went right through its chest.

A zombie stalked towards Ana, who raised her electric crusher weapon and then clocked it right in its head and saw a flash occur on the impact of the attack.

The duo went forth to look for the elevators and saw that a horde of zombies were crowding around the elevators. If that wasn't bad enough, from in front of him, Andy was grabbed by a zombie as it gripped his shoulders. It would be customary for Ana to come in and save him, except she, too, ended up in the same predicament.

Ana was grabbed by behind and she then dropped to the ground face down with the zombie right on her back. Andy looked at her and saw that she was doing everything in her power to avoid getting bitten.

Andy pierced the zombie in the gut, except this time, he lifted the zombie off of its feet and pulled the trigger, and again, and then again. Each time he pulled the trigger, the zombie started to break in pieces, with the arms falling off, then the legs, and finally the head and shoulder area.

With Ana still on the ground, Andy went forth and kicked the zombie right off of her and then got out his barbed bat and then swung it downward to the face of the downed zombie. He bludgeoned it a few times until it was more than just dead; the face was broken off as blood splattered. The face no longer had a nose and was without lips and teeth.

"Andy, stop, I think that zombie is finally dead," Ana said, who was now on her feet.

"I just needed to make sure," he said and then looked towards her. "Are you okay? Were you bit?"

"I didn't feel anything bite me," she said.

Andy then looked on her neck and shoulders and it didn't look like there were any wounds or bite marks.

The two saw that the zombies were still crowding around the elevators.

"I have a plan," Andy said.

"What is it?" Ana said.

Andy walked to the bar area and saw some bottles of whiskey on the shelf and also saw a rag lying around. He felt his pocket to make sure he had the one thing he needed in this situation: a lighter. So he uncapped the bottle and put the rag into the neck of the bottle and saw that it dipped into the alcohol. He lit it up and a flame emitted. He ran from behind the counter and then threw the Molotov cocktail towards the horde of zombies surrounding the elevator.

Most of the zombies that crowded around the elevator doors immolated and then dropped as their already-festered flesh had seared into their insides. Except that not all of them burned.

"Don't worry, I got this," Ana said and then brandished her Electric Crusher.

Andy followed her to get closer to what was left of the horde. She twirled the sledgehammer and then smashed it with the car battery on the end of it to the ground and a shockwave had caused the rest of the zombies to collapse. Andy looked on with so much amazement.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Ana said. "Come on, let's get going."

Ana pushed the button to go up. Andy had finally caught up to her. It wasn't long until the elevator had reached the bottom floor and the door opened. It was time to end this.

* * *

**September 29th**

**11:43 PM**

Only 17 minutes in the whole day before getting into the start of the last day of the month. Andy and Ana were set to end this whole thing once and for all. They were getting close to taking down the man who headed this entire operation.

The duo got off on the third to last floor, being that the top floor was where the penthouse suite was. They walked towards a door right by a stairwell after plowing through a few zombies that were on the stairs.

"Hey, Ana," Andy said.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Listen, I want you to know that if I don't make it, I just want you to know that it was great seeing you again after all these years and that if you make it and I don't, tell Tammy that I love her and that I did all of this for her safety. I also will tell you that I still care about you as a friend. If I don't make it, I want you to check in on her every once in a while."

"If that happens, I will," Ana said. "You are still one of my best friends and what you and Tammy have is real. But I have a feeling we will get out of here."

Andy opened the door and slowly sneaked his way into the hall. Ana followed him in there. It looked empty, but that didn't mean anything. If anything, it was likely that the corridor was crawling with Phenotrans mercenaries. It appeared that the suite was nearby.

"Hey, I'll go scope out the area," Ana said. "When I say move, you do that, okay?"

Andy nodded his head.

Ana quietly but quickly went towards the wall and pressed her back against it. In that moment, Andy thought of another plan, as he was on the opposite end of the hallway. He gave her a signal of what he planned to do. She nodded her head.

As she slowly moved towards the corner of the way, Andy rolled his barbed wire bat towards her, while she set the electric crusher aside for the time being. Once he got into an intersection of the hallway, Andy reached for his pocket and got out his lighter. Ana took a peak around the corner and saw a guard standing by the door. It would seem that Mr. Walters suspected that some people would try to come after him or if any guests at the hotel who may have stayed there for safety would have tried to find other places and if they did, their fate is sealed.

Andy threw the lighter towards the wall around the other corner. With Ana right around the corner, she heard footsteps coming towards her direction. As the guard got out, he saw Andy and was ready to draw his weapon, only to be clocked in the head by Ana with the barbed wire bat. She hit him rather hard that he didn't get up after that. Now it was time to get inside.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

Bruce had spent some time staying out of sight from anybody in the suite. It was only safe for him to do that. He hid in the closet with the door cracked a bit. He saw the man in a black suit and shades. He had a scar on his right cheek. He looked just like the man on the video footage that Ana had showed him before. He suspected that he saw that man at the camp a couple of days prior. It was definitely Robert Walters.

"Hey, listen," Walters said to the men with the briefcase. "We got take as much as we can. I don't care if that girl or that ZDC agent got away. We just need to take off and then have some of our other guys spread the virus into Miami and other parts of the state. We can just drop a canister somewhere and then watch the virus spread from there. Now go take the money out there. The chopper should come soon."

A phone rang just then. Mr. Walters picked up.

"Hey, what's up?" Walters said. "Wait, what? He wanted to stay behind? Okay, I am waiting for you to get here. But if I have to make a stop to get that idiot, I…" He paused for a bit. "Okay, we'll wait when we get to our destination and then you have the guy fly that fool to us, whatever he is planning. Otherwise, he can just get himself out of here."

The mercs with the briefcases got out there to await the landing of the chopper. Walters had gotten off the phone. It was time for Agent Bruce Simpson to make his move. He exited the closet with a gun drawn.

"Freeze," he said as he pointed his pistol to the back Walters's head.

Walters was shocked that someone had made his way into the room.

"You're outnumbered, you know," Walters said. "Once my guys find you, you're dead."

"Oh, I got some support, I can call for backup in a bit," Bruce said. "Besides, I have my ways of getting myself out of these types of situations."

"Is that so?" Walters said, who then got out a knife from inside his jacket pocket and tried to slash Bruce right across the neck, but the federal agent quickly evaded the attack and grabbed him by the arm, which caused him to drop the blade.

"Impressive," Walters said. "But I bet you didn't know that I have skills of my own."

Walters countered Bruce's attack by twisting his arm and bending his elbow the opposite direction, which caused Bruce to scream in pain. Walters proceeded to throw him to the ground.

From outside, the scream was loud that it caused Ana and Andy to through the door into the suite. Unbeknownst to them, they left the door to the stairwell open, and out the door the undead walked.

Through Ana and Andy's eyes, Walters held a gun pointed directly to the downed senior agent.

"Stop right there! Freeze!" Ana yelled as she pointed her pistol towards the shady businessman, while Andy pointed his boomstick weapon towards him.

"Well, looks like your support has just arrived," Walters sarcastically said.

"You're not getting out of here," Andy said. "We have your guy Simon back at the place. You guys are finished."

"Really? We're just getting started," Walters said. "Oh, and you can keep Simon. I don't need that idiot. Besides, we only needed this money for some more research and equipment. Besides, we are the ones doing the right thing here."

"Yeah, and all those lives out there ending for your stupid cause, that's doing the right thing?" Ana said.

"To make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs," Walters said. "It happened in Fortune City, it's happening here, and it will continue to happen to keep our stocks up for the greater good."

"I was in Fortune City, asshole!" Andy said. "I have to live with the pain of my younger brother dying in the outbreak. I was more than lucky to get out of there alive. I couldn't stand seeing all the people dying, people turning. It didn't help that I had to go through this again, but at least I have a better sense of what the cause is!"

"Who do you think you are? Chuck Greene?" Walters said. "Everyone loses a member of their family all the time. Why should your brother be any different? Chuck Greene had to live with the fact that his wife died in Vegas and that his daughter is infected."

Walters paused for a bit and then continued. "Besides, our company needs the money. Oh, and one more thing."

Walters got out his pistol and pointed it at Andy. Ana jumped up and dove right across, only for the bullet to go right above him and hit the wall. Andy looked down and saw Ana on the floor. They looked up and saw Walters running towards the doors to the outside.

"Were you really going to take a bullet for me?" Andy said.

Ana nodded. "Tammy needs you. I can't let you die."

They then tended to Bruce, who got up and then moved his right arm a bit to try to help ease some of the pain.

The three then ran outside and saw Walters standing there waiting for the chopper to land on a helipad that was right by the suite.

"You're not getting out of here, asshole!" Bruce said and then pointed his gun right to Walters.

Walters turned around and smiled evilly towards the federal agent. A gunshot was heard. Andy and Ana stopped running when they heard the gunshot. They noticed Bruce drop to his knees and then to his back when he hit the floor. The gunshot was from the short-haired female agent.

Andy and Ana went to tend to Bruce and noticed that he was shot in the stomach. However, he was still breathing.

"Don't worry about me," Bruce said. "Just get that son of a bitch!"

A couple of gunshots went towards Andy and Ana. Ana then looked up and saw Agent S jump out of sight as Ana tried to shoot back at her.

Andy offered to help Bruce get to his feet.

Ana added, "I will distract that asshole and then I will get the pilot to fly us back."

"How will you do that?" Andy said.

She then looked up and noticed that Walters got out an M16 with a grenade launcher attachment from the helicopter.

"I don't know," she said in a worried tone.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: ROBERT WALTERS**

Walters opened fire on Andy, Ana, and Bruce. It wasn't going to be easy for Andy as carrying the wounded federal agent will slow him down.

"Andy, I'll take it from here," Ana said.

"Okay, I'll try to distract him," Andy said.

Andy took off running and jumped when more bullets went his way. He then jumped out of the way again when a grenade went towards him.

BOOM!

A crooked smile emerged from his face as he let out a light chuckle.

That was close! He thought. The explosion was only a few feet away from him. He continued to run. He was off the helipad and hid behind a wall. He backed away a tad and saw that he walked off the helipad and then started walking towards him.

_Shit, what should I do now?_ Andy knew that if Walters would pump a few rounds into him that he would be Swiss cheese. He just couldn't run, especially if he wanted to get out of there soon. There had to be a way.

Meanwhile, Ana got the injured Bruce to the helicopter and flashed her badge to the pilot and then pointed her pistol at him.

"You are going to get us back to the safe house, you got that?" Ana said.

"Anything you say," the pilot said.

Andy knelt around the corner of the helipad and stuck his foot out while Walters continued to look for him. Only he did not expect to trip over Andy's foot in the process. Andy picked up the rifle and threw it off the rooftop and then pointed his boomstick towards him.

"We're taking you with us," Andy said. "You're going to jail for a long time."

However, Walters turned his body around and then swept his leg to get Andy off of his feet. Walters then picked up the weapon and surprisingly threw it off the roof as well. Walters got out his pistol and was ready to shoot him, only to feel a gunshot to his right arm, which caused him to yell in pain.

Andy looked up and Ana shot him right in the arm. Andy kicked Walters in the gut while he was down and then got back up and delivered a hard haymaker to his face, which caused the shades to fall from his eyes. Andy noticed that he had a couple of scars around both of his eyes, which explained why he wore them a lot.

Andy ran towards Ana to get to the chopper, only to be hit in the back, as Walters had caught up to him and pistol-whipped him. Ana then shot Walters in the leg. He then looked up and pointed the gun directly at her, only to get a shot in the gut.

Ana turned to her right and saw that Bruce had shot him. Andy looked up and then saw zombies coming out of the penthouse. He quickly got in the helicopter.

The zombies started to surround Walters. Some that were behind him started eating his shoulders, gouging out one of his eyes. Others that were in front of him tore off his right leg, and then the bottom of his body and other zombies started to eat his intestines and other organs, while other zombies dragged his legs away.

The only thing that Walters could say in his dying breath was, "CHOKE ON THEM! CHOKE ON THEM!"

Then another zombie tore off the top of his head and started eating his brain.

The helicopter flew away. Ana insisted that Bruce give her his phone so that she can call the rescue team to expedite the rescue.

"Hello, my name is Agent Ana Torres. My partner Bruce Simpson has been wounded. I would like for you to send in your team to rescue the survivors as soon as possible. I want you to also send a medivac to take my partner to get some medical attention. He has been fatally wounded. We will be there soon. Thank you"

It wasn't long until the helicopter came to the safe house. A rescue chopper was there to take Bruce to get treated. Ana and Andy went inside and noticed that a lot of survivors were being taken away by boat and by helicopter to the nearest aircraft carrier.

Andy went upstairs to see if his fiancé was in the bedroom, but she wasn't. He tried to look everywhere for her.

"Tammy! Tammy, where are you?" he said.

Andy saw some people and asked if they saw Tammy. They said no.

Ana noticed him looking around for her.

"Andy, what's wrong?"

"I can't find Tammy."

Ana replied, "Do you think she could have been rescued already?"

"No," Andy said. "She wouldn't leave without me."

He even went outside and asked some of the soldiers if they had seen her. He described her as a redhead with green eyes and was wearing a dark denim jacket with a black shirt and dark blue jeans. Some of them shook their head and said no.

He went back inside and then threw a chair to the wall and sat on the couch. While Ana stood in the distance and looked at how worried he was.

**September 30th**

**12:27 AM**

**(ROLL CREDITS)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Walters's death scene was rather…gruesome, but it was actually based on the death of Captain Rhodes from "Day of the Dead." I watched that movie a while back and thought that was actually a good death scene that I wanted to recreate it.
> 
> It's not over, by the way, as the final confrontation is near. But I will provide a special bonus in the meantime.


	34. BONUS CHAPTER: Alternate Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These are alternate endings depending on decisions made. If this were a game, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I had this idea for a long time. This chapter is only for fun as it's supposed to show what other possibilities could happen that could affect the ending. Being that I included some gameplay elements such as the timer, saving survivors (And also using them as backup, as seen in DR3), fighting psychopaths, using anything as weapons as well as crafting weapons, not to mention mixed drinks, I thought why not.
> 
> Being that the games had different endings, this will show what other endings could happen if this story were a game.
> 
> Oh, and I had left out a few gameplay elements such as the book/magazine system, as that element would not work in a story. Same with some other mixed drinks didn't make it, as I didn't want to go forth on them, because they wouldn't work (I mean like Spitfire, Randomizer, Energizer, or Painkiller).
> 
> One more thing: THE TRUTH HAS VANISHED INTO DARKNESS…
> 
> Man, I wanted to say that. Oh, and one last thing, the ending to the previous chapter was Ending A. Enjoy!

**ENDING B**

**(Fail to find Walters or let Walters escape)**

Andy went to the Hotel Caribbean. He saw a helicopter leaving. He reached for his phone and went to Ana.

"Hey, Ana, are you there?" Andy said.

Ana replied, "Andy, what's up?"

"I was worried, is everything alright," Andy asked.

"The bastard got away," Ana said. "He also shot Agent Simpson. I don't know what happened. It's like…" Then a gunshot was heard.

"Ana, Ana! What just happened?" Andy said. Ana didn't answer the phone. It appeared that the gunshot went towards her. But who knows?

At the safe house, when the rescue team comes.

Andy sat there and wondered what happened at the hotel. He was confused as to what happened. Was Ana killed or did she shoot someone during that time? If she was okay, she would let them know. She would have been back already.

"Andy, I'm sure she's okay," Tammy said. "She could take care of herself."

"If I had been there, none of this would have happened," Andy said.

"You're right, that other girl would still be alive," a male voice said.

Andy and Tammy looked up and saw that Simon was free from his restraints. Then Agent S came out from behind a wall and signaled to the couple that they get up.

"We're going to take you somewhere," Simon said.

Not long after, Simon and Agent S were seen standing looking down at something. Simon then got his phone and contacted the military to let them know that there were no survivors and that it was all a false alarm from the feds. Then a helicopter came and picked them up.

It was now Monday the 30th and aircrafts were seen flying above Palm Tree City to drop all of the firebombs.

**Due to the information from Simon Gates about there being no traces of human life, the survivors in the mansion/safe house were eliminated.**

**The firebombing had removed all traces of human life in the city as well.**

**After this outbreak, Phenotrans' stock had increased.**

* * *

**ENDING C**

**(If you don't get the memory card from Paul, but solve all cases.)**

Andy, Tammy, Ana, Bruce, and Brad all left the lab. Andy walked and looked to the ground. Tammy looked towards him.

"Andy, what's wrong?" Tammy said.

"We had Simon right there," Andy said. "I don't know why we just let him go like that."

Tammy replied, "I know how you feel. I am just as mad as you are. I can't believe we let him get away."

"Quiet, all of you," Bruce said. "All that matters is that I have some evidence here that shows that Phenotrans is behind the outbreak."

"Wait, what about Paul?" Andy said. "I thought I saw him in there."

"Wait," Tammy said. "Don't you think he had more evidence than what we have? He took a lot of pictures and videos. He had to have had some evidence that could expose that company for what they are."

"I think he gave us some of those pictures," Ana said. "I think we have enough evidence that we could use."

All five people took off in the van and then headed back to the safe house. From a distance, Agent S and Simon stood and looked on and saw the people leave. A phone rang.

Agent S answered, "Yeah, I see those people. We're going to give them a little surprise. We will make sure that they won't leave the city. We'll report to you afterwards."

Simon asked, "You sure this will work? We could simply just go in there and blast them all."

Agent S responded. "We have to make it look like an accident, but that doesn't mean we can't go in there and take care of other people."

Simon nodded and smirked evilly.

(When the clock runs out)

Bruce had received the exact time for extraction from the military. They had agreed to a certain time as boats and helicopters will arrive at a certain time. He had also told them that he had some evidence of who was behind the outbreak and planned to show it to them.

"I still feel like we are missing something," Andy said. "But at least we will be going home soon."

Tammy replied, "I can't wait to get out of here."

Suddenly, screams were heard from the outside. Ana, who was in the room with the couple, got up and went to check out what's going on. Suddenly, zombies started to come into the mansion and started eating or biting people. Then gunshots were heard, but then even more gunshots were heard.

Andy and Tammy got out of the room with their weapons.

"Hello, Andy," a male voice was heard.

"Just in time," a female voice was heard.

They turned around and were shocked at who they saw. One of them was Simon, but the other was a woman they hadn't seen before. Ana came to them.

"What's going on, guys?" Ana said and then looked right at them and was shocked as well.

Without question, gunshots were heard. **(Fade to black)**

**When the military arrived to the safe house, many mutilated bodies were found. It had been speculated that zombies had breached security and attacked any survivors that were there. There was no evidence of anybody trying to murder the survivors as the bodies had little-to-no traces of any wounds from weapons.**

**Someone had picked up a smartphone that was in the hands of a dead FBI agent and tried to look for any footage that was taken. Unfortunately, nothing was found. The government went ahead with the firebombing, as evidence for any other survivors was not found.**

**More outbreaks had started after the Palm Tree Outbreak. Because of it, Phenotrans' stock continued to rise as demand for Zombrex had dramatically increased.**

**It had been speculated that wanted drug lord Carlos Mendoza had something to do with the outbreak.**

* * *

**ENDING D**

**(Find Mary Mitchell, but don't solve rest of the cases)**

It was now noon on the 30th. Everyone was ready to leave the city. Andy had stayed out of sight for anybody who wanted him dead. He never did figure it out, but all of that was over.

Ana had some information he could use from Paul, but she felt something was missing.

"Bruce," Ana said.

"Agent Simpson," he corrected her.

"I feel like we are missing something," Ana said. "I had seen the person who was heading the operation, but I wonder if he could have led us to Mendoza. We could have caught him."

"Ana, as much as I want to catch that guy, all that matters is that we get out of here. I have seen plenty of cases go to shit, and this is one of them, but our safety from the zombies is what's more important."

"You're right." Her partner had a point, but there was more than met the eye. It felt like no one will ever know who started the outbreak or what the cause was. She may have seen the man heading the operation, but that didn't mean that he was behind it.

**Several helicopters and boats came to the island and right next to the mansion to evacuate the survivors.**

**The military managed to evacuate the safe house of survivors, but had trouble looking for more survivors out in the city.**

**For some strange reason, at some point they witnessed zombies acting a certain way and that the virus had spread into various parts of the city.**

**Despite rescuing a lot of people, the city was in shambles and the government issued the firebombing to commence the following day.**

**Phenotrans continued to struggle in their business, so they looked at a list of orphans to ensure that more outbreaks will start to increase the demand for Zombrex.**

* * *

**ENDING F**

**(Don't solve all cases; Don't go to the camp; Don't get the file on "Mary Mitchell"; Don't find "Mary Mitchell"; Let the clock run out after "Chapter 17/18/19"; Fail to save Andy)**

On Monday September 30th, several aircrafts dropped a lot of bombs over the city.

Inside the safe house, Andy and Tammy relaxed in a room until they heard something strange from the outside. While Ana and Bruce were in the security room and then quickly ran outside to see what was going on. **(FADE TO BLACK)**

**(If failed to save Andy; alternate cutscene)**

Tammy was in the room looking at pictures of Andy and her on her phone. She cried at everything that happened and felt she had nothing to live for.

From the doorway, Ana tried to call her attention and then got closer.

"Tammy, listen, I am so sorry for your loss," Ana said. "I can't believe he is gone."

She came and hugged Tammy. Out of nowhere, an explosion was heard from the outside. **(FADE TO BLACK)**

**The military and the government lost contact with the federal agents who were working on an unrelated case and also on the outbreak.**

**Without any contact, Florida Governor Sonya Paddock issued the firebombing to take place on the day any survivors were supposed to be rescued.**

**Right after the Palm Tree Outbreak, an outbreak in nearby Miami had taken place.**

**Because of this, many other outbreaks had started not long after, which caused the increase of demand of Zombrex for the infected.**

**Phenotrans' stocks had increased as a result and will continue to grow.**


	35. Not Over Yet (Overtime)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy finds out that Tammy had been abducted. He and Ana go out to search for her, but there may be another problem lurking in the shadows.

**September 30th**

**12:37 AM**

It had only been 10 minutes and Andy was still sitting on the couch with his hands covering his face. He stared directly at the floor, until through his a pair of legs was seen and then his shifted at what was in front of him. It was Ana.

"Andy, let's go, the soldier in charge said it's time for us to go," Ana said.

Andy didn't say anything. He didn't want to leave at all. Tammy went missing. How could this have happened? He knows that she wouldn't leave without him or without telling him for that matter. The same rang true for Tammy. When Andy went missing, he wouldn't have done that without telling her. However, when he went out there a few days prior to go look for people, it was different because she was asleep. He could have let her know, but he didn't want to wake her up. At least Tammy had let him know when he took his much-needed nap that she would be out there.

"Andy, look, I'm sorry that we can't find Tammy, but we need to get out of here," Ana said. "They're ready to leave now."

Andy didn't want to do this, but was there any choice? It's true that not everyone could get out of there, but she was safe and sound in the mansion with everyone else. Andy was going out there and she didn't join him. Where could she have gone? No one else saw her when they were leaving. He then realized that there was one way to find out if she was okay.

But then suddenly, Andy's phone rang and Tammy's picture came up on the screen. He immediately answered.

"Tammy, where are you?!" he said.

"Oh, hello, Andy," a male voice said with so much condescension. "I have her right here with me. Don't worry, she's fine…for now, anyway."

A female voice in the background yelled, "Andy! I am at…!"

But then she was cut off. It could only mean one thing.

"Simon, you fucking asshole!" Andy said. "Where the hell are you?"

"Relax, Andy," Simon said. "I am not going to hurt your precious Tammy. But if you really want her to be safe, I need for you to do something for me."

Heat ran through Andy's veins in that moment, like a fuse lit on sticks of dynamite and was ready to explode at any moment. With Ana standing right in front of him, she knew what was going on in his mind at that moment.

"When I find you, you will wish that you never…" Andy angrily said.

Simon responded, "Don't worry, Andy, I won't hurt her, but I need for you to bring me that money that my boss failed to get. I am sure you know where to find it. I also need for you to go and get a case of queens and larvae from the lab. My boss may be dead, but the plan for the next outbreak is still on. Then I'll tell you to come meet us somewhere. You better come alone."

Andy looked up at Ana, who shook her head at that comment. Andy hung up and the glare on his face really spoke a lot of volumes. He was ready to choke Simon for what he did. The question on both of their minds was how he escaped.

"Ana, you go on ahead," Andy said. "I'm going to settle this on my own."

"No, I can't let you do that," Ana said.

A soldier had walked in and said to the two people.

"Hey, are you coming or not? We're ready to get out to the boat right now," the soldier said.

Andy stood there in silence but then said, "You go on ahead. Just leave us."

"What are you doing?" the soldier said. "We were told to evacuate any survivors, as some people from our teams will search the areas come morning time for any other survivors. We can't leave anybody behind."

Ana responded, "With all due respect, sir, we have to sort some stuff out."

Andy looked at her. _We?_

"You go on ahead," Ana said. "My partner gave me your contact info. I'll reach you when the time comes."

The soldier had a confused look on his face but nonetheless, he left.

"What are you doing?" Andy said.

"I'm going to help you find Tammy," Ana said.

"Simon said for me to come alone," Andy said.

"That doesn't mean shit," Ana said. "He could be luring you into a trap for all we know."

"I can only bet that he would do that," Andy said. "But I can't let him hurt the woman I love."

"I will help you, we both got this," she said. "When we get there, I will find us a way to get out of here. I am sure we can find some boats at the marina or something. That way we can get to the ship on our own."

Skepticism ran through Andy's mind at that point. It was true that he would fall into a trap if he did this alone. He didn't want to think what Simon planned to do with Tammy. He guessed that there was a lot to what that scumbag told him only hours ago. He had to have had someone help him break free. But who was it?

"Wait a minute," Andy said. He raced up the stairs to find the room where Simon was held prisoner. He then noticed a few streaks of blood on the floor by the door. Then he opened the door and noticed a couple of dead bodies. They looked like the agents who were guarding him.

Ana followed him. She looked at the dead bodies and she immediately recognized them.

"Who did this?" Andy asked.

Suddenly, Ana had an idea. There were moments when she saw that mysterious woman. She saw her in Little Port-Au-Prince. She saw her at the lab. She even saw her for a quick second at the Hotel Caribbean. When she and Brad confronted those mercenaries in Little Port-Au-Prince, they mentioned her.

"Andy, I think there is another problem on our hands," Ana said. "Remember that woman at the helipad? She wore a black catsuit and had short red hair?"

"I think I saw her," Andy said.

"Something tells me that she is out there," Ana said. "You're better off having me help you."

"Are you sure?" Andy said. "No offense, Ana, but you're not the most experienced agent out there."

"I have made it this far and I am not about to let my best friend and his girlfriend die," Ana said. "I think I know what let the zombies and those guys come in earlier. We need to get out there now."

* * *

**September 30th**

**1:08 AM**

Ana and Andy left the safe house grounds in her SUV to go find the things that Simon wanted or "needed" as he stated. They made their way off the island onto the mainland.

However, from above, a helicopter was seen and then through a pair of binoculars, Agent S was seen watching the last two survivors getting off the island.

"I see them, Simon," Agent S as she talked into her phone. "I will make sure that they don't make it."

"Hey, don't kill the guy," Simon said. "I have something planned for him. Just make sure you kill that one girl."

"Well, I will follow them," Agent S said. "I will kill the girl and then bring the guy to you. If I don't get to them, I will send some of our guys after them. The firebombing will take care of the bodies in the end, anyway."

"Sounds good," Simon said.

Agent S got off the phone and told the pilot to follow them.

Down on the ground, Ana and Andy drove around. What appeared to be a glamorous and tropical city at first now looked like a wasteland. It was hard to believe that it was the same city just a few days before.

Then again, Las Vegas and Fortune City were the same way, until they were infested with the undead. Even small towns like Smithville, Coyote Springs, Still Creek, and of course, Willamette, had no distinguishable features about it, but they were homes to people, but they suffered the same fate.

It was going to escalate from here, as Ana had come across the list of orphans across the nation. While no other outbreaks had occurred, but it was only a matter of time. Maria was one of the few who had escaped. While she got infected, it seemed like she was doing her friend and her friend's mom a favor when she asked Ana to kill her. Add to the fact that Phenotrans had planned on started their next outbreak very soon. It saved thousands of people from that happening.

For Andy, this was the second time he had been in a zombie outbreak, but he had his ways to survive. It was now or never. He had to go get the stuff for Simon, even though he figured that there was something up his sleeve as to what he wanted to do to Tammy.

"Andy," Ana said while she drove. "There is a question on my mind right now. What was it that made you feel for Tammy, especially after knowing that Adrian didn't make it?"

Andy replied, "I had seen plenty of people die right before my very eyes. I know that I left Adrian at the arena when I stepped out to go to the bathroom. I ran around and then noticed that he was surrounded by zombies in the main lobby area of the arena. Because Tammy had no way to move when I saw her, she looked like an easy target for the zombies. It was possible for a zombie to climb onto the clam that she was sitting on and then pull her and start eating her. I couldn't let that happen to her."

Andy paused and then continued. "I know something good came out of the outbreak, but I still think about my brother every day. I know I don't like my dad, but that didn't mean I didn't have a good relationship with Adrian."

"I know, I remember you two were so close," Ana said. "You two looked like twins."

"We both looked like our dad," Andy said. "Even my mom let him stay with us at times when we were kids. It's funny how family works sometimes. My dad wasn't faithful and was not a nice man. You would think I'd hate Adrian, but I didn't. I loved him."

"I know I told you that I never got over you and that I know how much Tammy means to you, but what made you sure that Tammy was the one? I'm just asking."

Andy replied, "Ana, I appreciated your honesty. Tammy felt for me when we first met because of how depressed and suicidal I was. She also saw that I saw her for more than her looks and body, something that she knew a lot of guys liked her for. As time went on, we got closer. Close enough that I told her about my brother, but that was months into our relationship."

Andy paused yet again. "Ana, just know that you will always be my first love and that I am glad that we could still be friends despite everything."

Ana smirked when she heard him say that. It was amazing that this reunion had happened and that this whole outbreak brought them close again, as well as have her get close to Andy's current girlfriend.

As they looked through the windshield, they had witnessed many crazy things occur within those few days. The number of zombies had increased a lot within that time frame. It appeared that more people had become infected. It was bound to happen because many Phenotrans operatives were out there spreading the virus and also the zombies that were influenced by that special gas. It would almost seem like those were the "kings" that Professor Logan had told Ana about. It wasn't a special bee or anything, though the bees that Ana showed him seemed to have carried another hormone that was connected to a different strain of the virus.

Those same gas-influenced zombies would have a queen coming out of the body once it was killed. It wasn't like seeing regular zombies moving their bodies a certain way because the queen bee in the back of its head.

"I wonder, though," Andy said. "What else could Phenotrans do if they do find a cure for the virus?"

Ana responded, "My guess is that they would keep it under wraps. Even if a cure were found, that could only mean a certain amount of money but it wouldn't keep going because the money would only increase if people were to buy more Zombrex. I can't imagine what Brad will have to go through now."

* * *

**HOTEL CARIBBEAN**

**1:25 AM**

They drove and went into the Hotel Caribbean. Just then, an idea had hit Andy.

"Ana, I have a plan," he said.

"What do you got in mind?" she said.

"I will go find the money that he wants, while you could go to the lab and look for the other stuff that he needs."

Ana saw that he had a point. It would be overkill for the two to have to drive up to the laboratory.

Suddenly, Andy's phone rang. He immediately picked up.

"Time is ticking, Andy," Simon said. "I am really losing my patience here. Tammy's been crying for you."

"Just tell me where you are, and I'll be there soon," Andy said. He was surprisingly calm at that moment. He was confident that he'll get there soon.

"Is that so?" Simon said. "I promise that I will not hurt Tammy, but if you really need to know, come to the North Shore pier. It's near the boardwalk where the amusement park is."

It then occurred that the lab was not too far from that area. He then came up with another plan.

"That is if you're man enough to face me," Simon said.

Andy knew that if he responded that Simon would continue to run his mouth. It was true. This guy had quite a superiority complex, enough that he was insecure to stand up to his boss, but he acted like he was more important than he actually was. He knew what his real weak point was.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Andy said. "Your head is too big that there is enough space to fill some other intelligence. Intelligence you lack, I mean."

Simon then replied, "Hey fuck you!"

Andy then hung up.

"Change of plans," Andy said. "How about you stay here to look for the money, while I go look for the stuff he needs from the lab? The boardwalk and pier are really close to that lab."

"Good idea," Ana said. "Don't worry about me. I will meet you out there in a bit."

"Wait," Andy said. "You might want to stay out of sight. Simon told me to come alone. I also have a bad feeling about this. I need to handle this shit on my own."

"I'll be in touch," Ana said.

Andy went back outside and looked around and remembered that he left the motorbike with the chainsaws somewhere close by. It was time to settle this.

Ana looked around and it wasn't any different than how it was before when she was there a little while ago. However, it didn't seem like there was any mercenaries crawling around, though.

Knowing that the undead would only respond to her, either she could whip up that one drink again or she should just tough it out. Time was the essence, so the latter was the better option. She went to the bar area to look for something she could use. She still had some rounds and magazines for her handgun, but it could only take her so far.

A zombie had followed her to the bar area. She turned around. She quickly reacted and picked up a bar stool, as anything could be a weapon in this situation. She clocked the zombie right in the head with it and then smashed the downed zombie right in the face with the leg as it pierced right through its face and blood squirted right out.

She then smashed the stool against the bar counter, so hard that it broke. It was likely that it was ready to be replaced. She then broke off the pieces that kept the legs together and only kept one. The seat part of the stool had broken off to the point where the leg had a sharp end.

She went to look for the elevator to get up to the penthouse suite. She defended herself against a few zombies while on her way to get there. It was that specific elevator that she took that once she got off, she was in the suite. She didn't end up in the hallway.

Once inside, the penthouse suite was now crawling with the undead. It happened when they left the doors open from the stairwell as well as the door to get inside. She looked around and saw bodies of the same mercenaries that were there before. One of them had the briefcase near him.

_That must be it._ She went right to the body and picked it up. She shook it for a bit and it felt a bit light. Even if it weren't, it would be a good idea to try to dupe Simon. Besides, Andy's goal was just to get Tammy back.

She picked it up and was ready to take off, until she heard a ringing sound from nearby and then heard voices coming out of it.

"—She said for us to get the money and take out that one guy," one guy said.

"Whatever the case is, there was a girl with him," the other guy said. "She said for us to take her out. That asshole Simon just wants the guy for himself. Trying to play a stupid game with him at a time like this? Come on."

"I get what you mean…, hey what the…?" guy 1 said. He pulled out a rifle and started shooting at her and she quickly jumped out of sight. It was kill or be killed.

It appeared that someone had either sent some guys after her or these were the last remaining mercs from earlier. But the latter was impossible. Their boss was dead, but then again, Simon wasn't, neither was that mysterious woman.

Ana knelt up and fired a few shots towards the guys. It was a bad time considering that there were zombies roaming around. There was no time for this, she quickly ran for the nearest exit she could make. She saw the main door to the penthouse, which would lead her to the hallway. She made a break for it, while the guys continued to fire shots. Whether they were shooting at her or at the zombies, she didn't know nor did she care. All she cared about was the safety of her new friend and ally.

She ran and didn't look back and headed straight for the elevator to go down to the first floor. She ran with the briefcase in her hand and ran through the lobby through any openings in between zombies. Whenever zombies got in her way, she would puncture through the chests of the zombies with the sharp end of the stick that she had. She would even knock down a few. Killing them wasn't important to her.

She saw her SUV in the street and then clicked her keys and immediately went into the driver's seat and tossed the briefcase onto the passenger's seat and started up her vehicle and she was on her way to find Andy.

* * *

**MEANWHILE, AT THE PHENOTRANS LAB…**

Andy pulled up and stopped the bike. Zombies were seen swarming around the front door of the factory/laboratory. It had been a secret lab for Phenotrans for a bit seemingly, but they made it out of what appeared to be an old factory.

He found a blast frequency gun on the ground. While he would use it, it probably wouldn't do him any good. But then at the corner of the block, he saw a musical instrument store. The things one would find at the right times.

Being that the blast frequency gun shoots out sound waves, he came up with a good idea. It had even also been covered on Tape It or Die, as those people certainly know what they're talking about in order to survive a zombie apocalypse. He ran towards the store and smashed the window. Like before when he broke into the pawn shop and hardware store, nothing mattered. Any cops that he saw had now turned and the only reason they would even go after him is because they are hungry.

He found an amplifier that he could use. He opened up his phone to find the blog to give him directions on how to put it together. All it took was to get the speakers out of the amp and connect the wires to the gun.

_Let's see if this will work._ If this were any other time, Andy would try to build a flamethrower or plow through them, but his fiancé's life was at stake, so he had to make do with what he had. He looked right at the horde in front of the doorway. He drew the weapon and without hesitation, he squeezed the trigger and BOOM! An even louder sound wave emitted and took down a lot of zombies.

He ran inside and it was time to look for the case of queens and case of larvae. Aside from the zombies, it appeared that there was no one there. The question on his mind was where he could find a case of queens. He looked up and saw the harvester that looked busted. It was caused by the explosion from earlier.

He ran very quickly. He had a background in track and field during his teen years, so if he had to hurdle over a few zombies, he would and he could. He ran until he found the set of stairs that would take him upstairs to where some machinery was found and was close to the harvester.

He found the case of queens, but much to his surprise, the queens were encased in jars. It didn't look like there were any air holes for the queens to breathe. It had dawned on Andy why the zombies had collapsed when he saw Chuck Greene do it, as well as when he did it when he was on the streets of Little Port-Au-Prince. The queens were already dead from the lack of air. But then again, from the looks of things, the queens were moving, as it appeared that the lids were loosely closed, allowing some air to come in for them to breath.

Either way, Simon wanted the case for some reason. The case had also included some jars of larvae. It was what Simon wanted and Andy was going to give it to him in exchange for Tammy.

He closed the case and was ready to leave. Zombies were crowding around the staircase. One zombie tried to climb but tripped and fell over. Andy got out his Super BFG and blasted the zombies that were crowding around. The big sound took out all of the zombies that were surrounding the staircase.

It was time to go and settle this. He ran towards the door to get to the bike. Outside right by the motorcycle, a black SUV was parked.

"Andy, over here!" a female voice said.

Andy looked up and saw Ana sitting in her SUV.

"Ana, hey," he said. "Do you have the money with you?"

She nodded her head and tapped on the briefcase.

"Hey, can you drop me off over there?" Andy asked.

"Sure thing," Ana said.

They took off. The pier and boardwalk were not far at all. In fact it was close, but there was no way for Andy to carry both cases on that motorcycle.

In just a matter of minutes, Ana drove Andy to his destination. It was now time to end everything. Andy had told Ana to stay out of sight. This was his battle and he was going to end it.

Ana said, "Be careful, Andy. I'm going to the marina to find a boat for us to escape on."

"Okay, I will see you in a bit," Andy said.

Ana took off and Andy was left with both cases. He walked past the boardwalk and then down the pier. There were zombies roaming around but all he could do was pass by some. He saw what appeared to be a large building at the end of the pier. It had to be where Simon and Tammy were. Andy saw a staircase to get upstairs to the restaurant on the second floor.

Out of nowhere, Andy felt a zap to his back, which caused him to drop to the ground. It turned out that Simon was waiting for him and had an electric prod in his hand. But he didn't end it there, even when Andy was knocked out, he shocked him while he was still down.

* * *

**A few minutes later.**

Andy woke up and saw that his hands were tied behind his back as he lied against the railing where a lot of tables were, likely for the restaurant that was on the pier.

"Rise and shine, Andy."

Andy realized where he was and the person standing in front of him was Simon and then saw that Tammy was tied as well. She looked to the ground and it appeared that she had been crying. She looked really scared.

"You know something, Andy," Simon said. "I underestimated you. I mean for you to last this long, I wonder how you managed to do it."

"I survived one outbreak," Andy replied. "I will survive another, and then ANOTHER if I get into another one!"

"That's a good one, because I don't see you surviving this one," Simon said. "Everyone else is gone, while you and the girl of your dreams are still here. It's funny, because she is the type of girl who would appear in anybody's dreams. I remembered when she would be the type who would be out of anybody's league."

Tammy scowled at him for that remark.

"You see, Andy," Simon said. "There is a reason why I wanted some of those larvae."

He opened up the case and got out the jar.

"I am about to make your worst fear come true and you are going to watch it happen."

Andy realized that Simon only had ropes to use as restraints. He then noticed a sharp end on the railing. He put the rope against the sharp tip and started running his hands up and done.

It was night time, but the lights were on at the restaurant for some reason. Even at that hour, they would likely be off, but that wasn't important. As Simon was about to open the jar, he turned around and notice Andy was on his feet and he laid a hard punch to his face. Tammy sat back and saw the jar and the lid fall off.

"You know, I'm going to enjoy this," Simon said. "Let's see how well you go at it with an all-city for my high school wrestling team, as well as a junior boxing champion."

Andy stood there with a glare. He had been waiting to settle this from the moment he was tortured. Now he had the love of his life in his custody, it was time to end it all.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: SIMON GATES**

Andy tried to punch him again, but Simon quickly dodged the attack and delivered a couple of jabs and then delivered a left hook to his face.

That didn't stop Andy from getting back up, but Simon quickly grabbed him and delivered a hard takedown. But he didn't stop, as he punched Andy three times in the face while he was on the ground. He then got to his feet and then kicked him a few times in the stomach and in the back, particularly the area where he was hit when he was tortured.

Tammy couldn't do anything except watch. However, she felt the rope had gotten looser after time had passed. She moved her hands a bit to undo the ropes around her wrists.

Simon gripped his hands around Andy's neck. The more he gripped, the more Andy's face got red and then started turning blue. Andy was gagging for air. Tammy saw a steak knife on the table. She quickly picked it up and then punctured it right through Simon's right shoulder. He screamed at the pain but then he got up and then turned around and then backhanded her in the face and then shoved her to the wall.

At that moment, Andy got up and picked up a plate from another table. It appeared that the silverware and plates were still there because people were enjoying a meal the night the outbreak started. So he picked up the plate and clocked him over the head with it so hard that it shattered. He then grabbed him in a headlock and then punched him a few times in the face.

At that moment, Andy's facial expression was so full of rage that he started kicking him while he was down and stomping him. But it wasn't over for him, as soon as Simon got to his feet, Andy started to deliver multiple hard punches. Right when Andy tried to deliver another punch, Simon had blocked and then grabbed him by the wrist and then started twisting his arm a bit. Andy started screaming in pain a bit.

"Simon, stop!" Tammy yelled. "You'll break his arm!"

"Shut up, you slut!" Simon yelled.

Having witnessed Simon hit his woman once again, Andy had enough and then immediately decked him right in the face.

Simon fell to the ground after that hard punch. Andy went right to Tammy to comfort her.

"It's okay, baby, it's me, I'm here for you," Andy said as he got closer to her.

Tammy panted and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Come on, let's go," Andy said. "It's not worth it."

Andy started walking, while Tammy shook as she started to follow him.

Meanwhile, Simon saw a larva on the ground right by the jar. He grabbed it and then got back to his feet and quickly grabbed Tammy.

"Hey, Andy," Simon said. "I'm not done!"

He had his arm around her neck and forcibly tried to shove the larva into her mouth. She shook her head and had a look of major discomfort on her face. However, Simon was met with an elbow to the gut and then grabbed Simon's right hand with the larva in it. She yelled as she was forcibly trying to shove the larva into his mouth and the moment his mouth opened, she pushed it in with all her might.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Tammy yelled with so much emotion in her voice. One would believe it was because of he had put her through in that moment, but it wasn't the case. It was from the years of what he put her through during their teen years. Not just when they dated, but also after they dated. After what he put her and her family through, it was catharsis.

Simon started choking and then fell to the ground. But Tammy wasn't done. She kicked him multiple times while he was on the ground. A sound came out of Simon's mouth that implied that the larva had gone down.

Tammy then walked towards Andy. She took another deep breath, but this time, she was feeling much better. Andy looked up and saw something irregular.

"Um, baby?" Andy said. Tammy immediately turned around and saw Simon get to his feet and started convulsing and them vomiting blood. He then noticed that his eyes started to glaze over a bit.

Andy then saw the case of queens and immediately picked up a jar with a queen and made sure it was sealed tight. Andy then raised the jar and looked dead in Simon's eyes, who appeared to have maintained his living consciousness during that time, as his facial expression appeared to be shocked and concerned. But Andy didn't care, without warning he threw the jar to the floor and watched as it smashed and the glass shattered. At that moment, Simon started to convulse again and his head started to shake fast and tried to grab it but then the head exploded as well as his chest exploded and a glowing green larva had come out and blood spilled everywhere.

The couple looked on and watched the zombified Simon drop completely dead. Tammy turned around and hugged Andy.

"Oh god, Tammy, I'm sorry I left you," Andy said with so much emotion as he started crying. "I will never let you out of my sight again."

"It's not your fault, Andy," Tammy said with so much emotion, and she started crying, too. "I love you so much."

She put her face into his shoulder, as he rubbed her back while they were still hugging.

They walked down the stairs from the building and noticed a speedboat with a light on it. It was also white.

"Andy! Tammy! Over here!"

The couple looked up and figured that it was Ana who found a boat for them to make their escape. They headed right down the beach and then Ana pulled up. It was late at night, but with the nightlife in Palm Tree City being active, the lights from the buildings were still on and Ana was still seen in the boat. Andy and Tammy entered the boat.

Ana noticed a few bruises on Andy's face. "Are you okay?"

"I feel a lot better now," he said.

Tammy added, "Me, too." And then she smiled a bit.

"I'll handle it from here," Ana said and started driving the boat.

She found a radio on the boat and used it to contact people from the ship to let them know that they are on their way. However, someone said to wait, as they wanted to send a chopper out there to find them.

It didn't matter. Ana was set to make their escape from the city. She traveled a long distance from the North Shore area. It was quite a distance from there to Palm Tree Beach. Andy and Tammy held each other while they rode in the back.

As Ana was driving the boat, a helicopter came in from behind. Tammy and Andy looked up and saw the chopper.

"Wait, is that our rescue chopper?" Tammy said.

Ana turned around and looked up. This was odd for her. She knew that the ship was far from where they were. Even then, why wasn't it calling their attention to ask who they were? Next thing that happened, a person was hanging out of the door and then gunshots were heard.

"Oh fuck!" Ana yelled. "Everyone hold on!"

From that moment, Ana set the boat's speed to max. It seemed that things were not over for them. It will only be over once they were home free. She kept the speed going. But even when it sped up, the helicopter kept following them. No more gunshots, but that didn't mean that the person didn't want to stop following them.

As Ana kept going faster, she was now in Palm Tree Beach, where the pier and rock pier were. It wasn't long until she crashed the boat into the rocks. At that point, the helicopter had caught up to them and got lower. Suddenly, someone had rappelled down onto the rocks and was carrying an assault rifle. It was a woman. It could only mean one person.

Ana got up and checked on Andy and Tammy to see if they were okay. Andy said that they were. Just then, more gunshots occurred.

"Out of the boat, NOW!" a female voice said.

Ana, Tammy, and Andy looked up and slowly got out of the boat. There was light on them from the pier nearby, as well as the buildings from near the beach and also the helicopter.

"Well look what we have here," Agent S said.

"Who the hell are you?" Ana said.

"I'm the person who is just cleaning up the rest of the mess here," Agent S said. "Or at least what's left of it. That was what my mission was and I am never done until my mission is complete."

"For who, exactly?" Andy said. "Your boss is dead. Simon is dead. You have no one to answer to now."

"You think I only worked for Walters?" Agent S said. "There are more people higher on the food chain than Walters. Besides, the main boss doesn't tolerate failure, so I am not going to fail her. Besides, I had a lot more duties ever since one of my partners was killed, as well as my girls. I bet you didn't know that we were all a team."

The trio all looked at each other. Ana realized she meant Tyler, while Andy and Tammy realized that she meant those assassins at the convention.

"Besides, I always complete my mission," Agent S said and then pointed her rifle towards everyone thinking that they were unarmed.

However, not all of them were unarmed, as Ana drew her pistol and fired right at her right arm to stop her from opening fire. She jumped off the boat and onto the rocks and then laid a punch to the female assassin's face.

Agent S had gotten into a stance. Ana knew that she was unmatched against her, but something had to be done. Besides, it's not like she didn't have backup with her. Ana got into a stance as well. It was time to end this once and for all.

**PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: AGENT S**

Ana tried to throw a few punches, but Agent S had dodged each attack and then grabbed her and threw her to the ground, which were the rocks. It hurt Ana a bit, but she seized the opportunity as she grabbed a rock and then clocked her right in the stomach. Ana then punched her and grabbed her in a headlock and punched her a few times, until Agent S countered by punching her in the gut.

Agent S jumped up and delivered a hard spin kick right to Ana's face. But she wasn't done, as she dragged her body towards the water and put her face in it.

But then the female assassin felt a kick to her side, as Tammy, still with the rage that she felt not long before, kicked her. But Agent S shoved Tammy as she tripped over the rocks.

"No, no, wait your turn, girly," Agent S said.

But Ana got up and elbowed her right in the back and then drove her head right into a rock, which gave Agent S quite a gash. She then tried to drive her face into the water, to try to drown her as well. However, the female assassin had held her breath and used all of her strength to fight back against the young female fed. She jumped up and delivered a back-flip kick which sent Ana flying.

She wasn't done, as she saw the rifle lying there barely into the water. She picked it up and was ready to finish her mission.

"Say good night, losers!" she said, until she felt a harpoon pierce her right into her gut.

Ana looked up and saw Tammy holding a spear-gun that she found in the boat.

Agent S was barely breathing as she got up, despite the harpoon being in her system.

The helicopter started getting lower and another person was seen sitting by the gunner was ready to open fire on everyone.

But then another gunshot was heard from another direction and the shot went right through the windshield of the helicopter, as another helicopter was seen flying from the opposite direction.

Suddenly that helicopter was seen crashing down and Agent S looked up and saw the chopper crash right on her. Ana, Andy, and Tammy all ran and jumped to get away from the crash and explosion.

The other helicopter lowered where they were and from the inside, Brad, along with soldier who held a sniper rifle was seen.

"Hey, guys, are you okay?" Brad said.

The trio looked at each other and sighed and smiled in relief. They all got on and were now getting ready to leave the city and get home.

While in the helicopter, Andy and Tammy looked at each other. Andy reached for his pocket and got out the ring and drove it right onto Tammy's ring finger. Tammy leaned in to kiss Andy on the lips and then leaned her head against his shoulder.

Ana then looked at Brad and then shook his hand.

"How's Bruce?" she asked.

"Oh, he's okay," Brad said. "He'll be fine. The bullet went through and they were able to stop the bleeding."

The chopper headed close to the ship. Now everyone can relax after those rough few days.

* * *

**When the day hit, the military went back into the city to search for any other survivors. Lucky for them, more were found and were taken to safety. The firebombing didn't occur until the following day, October 1st.**

**Andy had given the media the evidence from Paul of what he had shot. Everything ranging from the camp to the lab. It provided evidence of Phenotrans had planned.**

**However, Phenotrans denied that they started the outbreak, suggesting that the camp was done for researching purposes and that the harvesting was done to process the queens for Zombrex.**

**They had stated that it was the work of Carlos Mendoza and other gang members. All of whom were found dead.**

**After this whole outbreak, Ana went to visit her family in Carson City, Nevada. It was a much-needed visit. She needed a vacation as well.**

**Andy and Tammy had set up a date for their wedding, which is on September 27th, 2014. That day remains special as it was the day they met.**

**They also maintain a close relationship with Ana, as they all decided to keep in contact.**

**Brad approached Ana to see if she would like to join the ZDC at some point. She said that she was open for it. Bruce even suggested it and would gladly be a reference for her.**

**Andy was now clear of his fear of zombies. He and Tammy decided to write a novel based on their romance and also this vacation that they took. Although Andy also thought about writing a memoir based on everything that happened to him.**

**Because of this outbreak, Phenotrans continues to struggle in their business. Though they still sell Zombrex, not a lot of outbreaks had happened and because of the controversy surrounding them possibly working with a wanted criminal, there had been some skepticism over their legitimacy as a company trying to save lives.**

_ **THE END.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this had been quite a project that I worked on. It's crazy to think how far I went with it. I really didn't think that I would make it this long, but in a lot of ways, I am glad that I did, especially after characterizing two small characters from Dead Rising 2.
> 
> I also must note that it's great that I continued with this, knowing that there won't be another Dead Rising game after Capcom Vancouver closed its doors a while back.
> 
> I think I might start writing a novel soon, as well as continuing my other stories. I don't know if I will make them as long as this, but I shall see.
> 
> As for me doing another spin-off involving a survivor, that's a hard one. I don't know if I could do one like this, but never say never. Of course, it doesn't have to be like this, but I shall see.
> 
> I'm out. Peace.


End file.
